









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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J. W. RANDOLPH, 

121 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA. 
1853. 



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'Vi 




NOTES 



STATE OF VIRGINIA, 



THOMAS JEFFERSON: 



ILLUSTRATED WITH 



A MAP, INCLUDING THE STATES OP VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, 
DELAWARE AND PENNSYLVANIA. 



A NEW EDITION, 



PREPARED BY THE AUTHOR, 



CONTAINING NOTES AND PLATES NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. 



J. W. RANDOLPH, 

121 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA. 
1853. 



Fz20 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
J. W. RANDOLPH, 
In the Clerk's OflSce of the District Court in and for the Eastern District of Va. 



48 65 55 

JUL 1 7 1942 



^o^'^^ 



CHAS. H. WrNNE, PBINTEB, RICHMOND, VA. 






PREFACE OF THE PUBLISHER. 



Thomas Jeeferson" left at his death a printed 
copy of his Notes on Virginia, containing many ma- 
nuscript notes, several plates and a map, intended 
apparently for a new edition of the work. As an 
edition had then been recently published, it was 
deemed best to delay any further publication un- 
til the book should become scarce. It is now 
nearly out of print, and a general desire is ex- 
pressed for another edition. With a view of gra- 
tifying this wish, Mr. Jefferson's executor, Thomas 
Jefferson Randolph, has transferred to the publisher 
the materials prepared by the author for the new 
edition. 

In making this preparation the author used a 
copy of the first edition, and thus inadvertently 
repeated an error in the narrative preceding Lo- 
gan's speech, which had been corrected in a later 
edition. An historical statement making the cor- 
rection, deduced by the author from certain do- 
cuments, and the documents themselves, will be 
found in Appendix No. IV. They are taken from 
a re-print of the work in 1825. 



IV PREFACE. 

The manuscript notes of the present edition 
are numerous and interesting. Many are in fo- 
reign languages, and disclose the extensive eru- 
dition of the author. Professor Schele De Vere, 
the accomplished and learned incumbent of the 
Chair of Modern Languages of the University of 
Virginia, has been kind enough to translate the 
French, Spanish and Italian notes. These transla- 
tions will be found in Appendix No. IV. 

The circumstances under which the Notes on 
Virginia were written, are stated by the author 
in his preface. It may be well to add, that the 
foreigner of distinction to whom they were ad- 
dressed was Mons. Barbe De Marbois, the Secre- 
tary of the French Legation in the United States, 
and that they were written while the author was 
confined to his room by an injury received from 
the falling of his horse. 

The beauty of style, the accuracy of informa- 
tion, and the scientific research disj)layed in the 
Notes have made them a permanent part of our 
national literature. The publisher therefore con- 
ceives that in publishing a new edition of this ad- 
mirable work, he is renewing a valuable contribu- 
tion to that literature, and rendering a just tribute 
to the illustrious author. 

September 13, 1853. 



ADYEKTISEMENT. 



The following Notes Avere written in Virginia in the year 
1781, and somewhat corrected and enlarged in the winter 
of 1782, in answer to Queries proposed to the Author, by 
a Foreigner of Distinction, then residing among us. The 
subjects are all treated imperfectly; some scarcely touched 
on. To apologize for this by developing the circumstances 
of the time and place of their composition, would be to 
open wounds which have already bled enough. To these 
circumstances some of their imperfections may with truth 
be ascribed; the great mass to the want of information and 
want of talents in the writer. He had a few copies printed, 
which he gave among his friends ; and a translation of them 
has been lately published in France, but with such alte- 
rations as the laws of the press in that country rendered 
necessary. They are now offered to the public in their 
original form and language. 

Fehruarij 27, 1787. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 

1. Boundaries of Virginia, - . « . 1 

2. Rivers, - - - - 2 

3. Seaports, ------ 15 

4. Mountains, ------ 16 

5. Cascades, ------ 20 

6. Productions, mineral, vegetable and animal, - - 25 

7. Climate, ...... §0 

8. Population, - - -.- . -90 

9. Military force, - - - .. . - 96 
10. Marine force, - - - - - - 98 

11; Aborigines, ----.. 99 

12. Counties and towns, ----- HC 

13. Constitution, ----.. n-j 

14. Laws, ------ 140 

15. Colleges, buildings and roads, - - - . Igj 

16. Proceedings as to Tories, - - - - 166 

17. Religion, - - - - - - 168 

,18. Manners, - - - - - -173 

19. Manufactures, - - - - - . 175 

20. Subjects of commerce, - - - - -177 

21. Weights, measures and money, - - - - 182 

22. Public revenue and expenses, - - - . 186 

23. Histories, memorials and State papers, - - - 192 
Appendix, No. I. - - - - . 213 

" " II. - - - - - 225 

" " III. 238 

" " IV. Papers relative to the murder of Lo- 
gan's family, - - - 240 
Translations of notes, - - 270 
Plates and Topographical Analysis. 



QUERY I. 



AN EXACT DESCRIPTION OF THE LIMITS AND BOUNDARIES OF THE 
STATE OF VIRGINIA ? 

Virginia is bounded on the East by tbe Atlantic ; on the 
North by a line of latitude, crossing the Eastern Shore through 
Watkins's Point, being about 37° 57' North latitude; from 
thence by a straight line to Cinquac, near the mouth of Pa- 
towmac ; thence by the Patowmac, which is common to Virginia 
and Maryland, to the first fountain of its Northern branch ; 
thence by a meridian line, passing through that fountain till it 
intersects a line running East and West, in latitude 39° 43' 
42.4", -which divides Maryland from Pennsylvania, and which 
was marked by Messrs. Mason and Dixon ; thence by that line, 
and a continuation of it westwardly to the completion of 5 de- 
grees of longitude from the Eastern boundary of Pennsylvania, 
in the same latitude, and thence by a meridian line to the Ohio : 
on the West by the Ohio and Missisipi, to latitude 36° 30' 
North ; and on the South by the line of latitude last mentioned. 
By admeasurements through nearly the whole of this last Kne, 
and supplying the unmeasured parts from good data, the At- 
lantic and Missisipi are found in this latitude to be 758 
miles distant, equal to 13° 38' of longitude, reckoning 55 miles 
and 3,144 feet to the degree. This being our comprehension 
of longitude, that of our latitude, taken between this and Ma- 
son and Dixon's line, is 3° 13', 42.4", equal to 223.3 miles, 



^ LIMITS. 

supposing a degree of a great circle to be 69 m. 864 f., as 
computed by Cassini. These boundaries include an area some- 
wliat triangular, of 121,525 square miles, whereof 79,650 lie 
westward of the Allegbanej mountains, and 57,034 westward of 
the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway. This State 
is therefore one-third larger than the islands of Great Britain 
and Ireland, which are reckoned at 88,357 square miles. 

These limits result from — 1. The ancient charters from the 
crown of England. 2. The grant of Maryland to the Lord 
Baltimore, and the subsequent determinations of the British 
Court as to the extent of that grant. 3. The grant of Penn- 
sylvania to William Penn, and a compact between the General 
Assemblies of the Commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylva- 
nia as to the extent of that grant. 4. The grant of Carolina, 
and actual location of its Northern boundary, by consent of 
both parties. 5. The treaty of Paris of 1763. 6. The con- 
firmation of the charters of the neighboring States by the Con- 
vention of Virginia at the time of constituting their Common- 
wealth. 7. The cession made by Virginia to Congress of all 
the lands to which they had title on the North side of the Ohio. 



QUEET II 



A NOTICE OF ITS RIVERS, RIVULETS, AND HOW FAR THEY ARE 
NAVIGABLE ? 

An inspection of a map of Virginia will give a better idea of 
the geography of its rivers than any description in writing. 
Their navigation may be imperfectly noted. 

Roanoke, so far as it lies within this State, is no where na- 
vigable but for canoes or light batteaux ; and, even for these, 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 6 

in such detached parcels as to have prevented the inhabitants 
from availing themselves of it at all. 

James River and its waters afford navigation as follows : 

The whole of EUzaheth River, the lowest of those which run 
into James River, is a harbor, and would contain upwards of 
300 ships. The channel is from 150 to 200 fathom wide, and 
at common flood tide affords 18 feet water to Norfolk. The 
Strafford, a 60 gun ship, went there, lightening herself to cross 
the bar at Sowell's Point. The Fier Rodrigue, pierced for 64 
guns, and carrying 50, went there without lightening. Craney 
Island, at the mouth of this river, commands its channel tole- 
rably well. 

Nansemond River is navigable to Sleepy Hole for vessels of 
250 tons ; to Suffolk for those of 100 tons ; and to Milner's for 
those of 25. 

Pagan Creeh affords 8 or 10 feet water to Smithfield, which 
admits vessels of 20 tons. 

Chichalwminy has at its mouth a bar, on which is only 12 
feet water at common flood tide. Vessels passing that, may 
go 8 miles up the river ; those of 10 feet draught may go 4 
miles further ; and those of 6 tons burthen 20 miles further. 

Appamattox may be navigated as far as Broadways by any 
vessel which has crossed Harrison's Bar in James River ; it 
keeps 8 or 9 feet water a mile or two higher up to Fisher's Bar, 
and 4 feet on that and upwards to Petersburgh, where all navi- 
gation ceases. 

James River itself affords harbor for vessels of any size in 
Hampton Road, but not in safety through the whole Winter ; 
and there is navigable water for them as far as Mulberry Island. 
A 40 gun ship goes to James Town, and, lightening herself, 
may pass to Harrison's Bar, on which there is only 15 feet wa- 
ter. Vessels of 250 tons may go to Warwick ; those of 125 
go to Rocket's, a mile below Richmond ; from thence is about 
7 feet water to Richmond; and about the centre of the town, 
4 feet and a half, where the navigation is interrupted by 
falls, which, in a course of 6 miles, descend about 80 feet 
perpendicular ; above these it is resumed in canoes and bat- 



4 ' RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 

teaux, and is prosecuted safely and advantageously to within 
10 miles of the Blue Ridge ; and even through the Blue Ridge 
a ton weight has been brought ; and the expense would not be 
great, when compared with its object, to open a tolerable na- 
vigation up Jackson's River and Carpenter's Creek, to within 
25 miles of Howard's Creek of Greenbriar, both of which have 
then water enough to float vessels into the Great Kanhaway. 
In some future state of population, I think it possible that its 
navigation may also be made to interlock with that of the Pa- 
towmac, and through that to communicate by a short portage 
with the Ohio. It is to be noted, that this river is called in 
the maps James Miver, only to its confluence with the Rivanna ; 
thence to the Blue Ridge it is called the Fluvanna ; and thence 
to its source, Jackson's River. But, in common speech, it is 
called James River to its source. 

The Rivanna, a branch of James River, is navigable for 
canoes and batteaux to its intersection with the Southwest 
mountains, which is about 22 miles ; and may easily be opened 
to navigation through those mountains to its fork above Char- 
lottesville. 

York River, at York Town, affords the best harbor in the 
State for vessels of the largest size. The river there narrows 
to the width of a mile, and is contained within very high banks, 
close under which the vessels may ride. It holds 4 fathom wa- 
ter at high tide for 25 miles above York to the mouth of Poro- 
potank, where the river is a mile and a half wide, and the 
channel only 75 fathom, and passing under a high bank. At 
the confluence of Pamunkey and Mattapony, it is reduced to 
3 fathom depth, which continues up Pamunkey to Cumberland, 
where the width is 100 yards, and up Mattapony to within 2 
miles of Frazer's Ferry, where it becomes 2J fathom deep, and 
holds that about 5 miles. Pamunkey is then capable of na- 
vigation for loaded flats to Brockman's Bridge, 50 miles above 
Hanover Town, and Mattapony to Downer's Bridge, 70 miles 
above its mouth. 

Piankatanlc, the little rivers making out of Mohjack Bay, 
and those of the Eastern Shore, receive only very small ves- 
sels, and these can but enter them. 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. O 

Rappahanoch affords 4 fathom water to Hobb's Hole, and 
2 fathom from thence to Fredericksburg. 

Patowmao is 7|- miles wide at the mouth ; 4| at Nomony 
Bay ; 3 at Aquia ; 1| at Hallooing Point ; 1 J at Alexandria. 
Its soundings are, 7 fathom at the mouth ; 5 at St. George's 
Island ; 4| at Lower Matchodic ; 3 at Swan's Point, and thence 
up to Alexandria ; thence 10 feet water to the falls, which are 
13 miles above Alexandria. These falls are 15 miles in length, 
and of very great descent, and the navigation above them for 
batteaux and canoes is so much interrupted as to be little used. 
It is, however, used in a small degree up the Cohongoronta 
branch as far as Fort Cumberland, which was at the mouth of 
Wills's Creek, and is capable, at no great expense, of being 
rendered very practicable. The Shenandoah branch interlocks 
with James River about the Blue Ridge, and may perhaps in 
future be opened. 

The Missisipi will be one of the principal channels of fu- 
ture commerce for the country westward of the Alleghaney. 
From the mouth of this river, to where it receives the Ohio, is 
1,000 miles by water, but only 500 by land, passing through 
the Chickasaw country. From the mouth of the Ohio, to that 
of the Missouri, is 230 miles by water, and 140 by land. From 
thence to the mouth of the Illinois River is about 25 miles. 
The Missisipi, below the mouth of the Missouri, is always 
muddy, and abounding with sand bars, which frequently change 
their places. However, it carries 15 feet water to the mouth 
of the Ohio, to which place it is from one and a half to two 
miles wide, and thence to Kaskaskia, from one mile to a mile 
and a quarter wide. Its current is so rapid, that it never can 
be stemmed by the force of the wind alone, acting on sails. 
Any vessel, however, navigated with oars, may come up at any 
time, and receive much aid from the wind. A batteau passes 
from the mouth of Ohio to the mouth of Missisipi in three 
weeks, and is from two to three months getting up again. 
During its floods, which are periodical, as those of the Nile, the 
largest vessels may pass down it if their steerage can be en- 
sured. These floods begin in April, and the river returns into 



6 RIVERS AND NAVIGATION". 

its banks early in August. The inundation extends further on 
the Western than Eastern side, covering the lands in some 
places for 50 miles from its banks. Above the mouth of the 
Missouri, it becomes much such a river as the Ohio, like it clear, 
and gentle in its current, not quite so wide, the period of its 
floods nearly the same, but not rising to so great a height. The 
streets of the villao;e at Cohoes are not more than 10 feet above 
the ordinary level of the water, and yet were never overflowed. 
Its bed deepens every year. Cohoes, in the memory of many 
people now living, was insulated by every flood of the river. 
What was the Eastern channel has now become a lake, 9 miles 
in length, and 1 in width, into which the river at this day never 
flows. This river yields turtle of a peculiar kind, perch, trout, 
gar, pike, mullets, herrings, carp, spatula fish of 50 lb weight, 
cat fish of 100 ft) weight, bufiklo fish and sturgeon. Alli- 
gators or crocodiles have been seen as high up as the Acan- 
sas. It also abounds in herons, cranes, ducks, brant, geese and 
swans. Its passage is commanded by a fort established by this 
State, 5 miles below the mouth of Ohio, and 10 miles above the 
Carolina boundary. 

The Missouri, since the treaty of Paris, the Illinois and 
Northern branches of the Ohio since the cession to Congress, 
are no longer within our limits. Yet having been so hereto- 
fore, and still opening to us channels of extensive communica- 
tion with the Western and Northwestern country, they shall be 
noted in their order. 

The Missouri is, in fact, the principal river, contributing more 
to the common stream than does the Missisipi, even after its 
junction with the Illinois. It is remarkably cold, muddy and 
rapid. Its overflowings are considerable. They happen during 
the months of June and July. Their commencement being so 
much later than those of the Missisipi, would induce a belief 
that the sources of the Missouri are northward of those of the 
Missisipi, unless we suppose that the cold increases again 
with the ascent of the land from the Missisipi westwardly. 
That this ascent is great, is proved by the rapidity of the river. 
Six miles above the mouth it is brought within the compass of 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. < 

a quarter of a mile's width ; yet the Spanish merchants at 
Pancore, or St. Louis, say they go 2,000 miles up it. It 
heads far westward of the Rio Norte, or North RIa' er. There 
is, in the villages of Kaskaskia, Cohoes and St. Vincennes, no 
inconsiderable quantity of plate, said to have been plundered 
during the last war by the Indians from the churches and pri- 
vate houses of Santa F^, on the North River, and brought to 
these villages for sale. From the mouth of Ohio to Santa 
F^ is 40 days' journey, or about 1,000 miles. What is the 
shortest distance between the navigable waters of the Missouri 
and those of the North River, or how far this is navigable above 
Santa F^ I could never learn. From Santa F^ to its mouth in 
the Gulf of Mexico is about 1,200 miles. The road from 
New Orleans to Mexico crosses this river at the post of Rio 
Norte, 800 miles below Santa Fe ; and from this post to New 
Orleans is about 1,200 miles ; thus making 2,000 miles between 
Santa F^ and New Orleans, passing down the North River, Red 
River and Missisipi; whereas, it is 2,230 through the Mis- 
souri and Missisipi. From the same post of Rio Norte, 
passing near the mines of La Sierra and Laiguana, which are 
between the North River and the River Salina to Sartilla, is 
375 miles ; and from thence, passing the mines of Charcas, 
Zacatecas and Potosi, to the City of Mexico, is 375 miles ; in 
all, 1,550 miles from Santa F^ to the City of Mexico. From 
New Orleans to the City of Mexico is about 1,950 miles ; the 
roads, after setting out from the Red River, near Natchitoches, 
keeping generally parallel with the coast, and about 200 miles 
from it, till it enters the City of Mexico. 

The Illinois is a fine river, clear, gentle, and without rapids ; 
insomuch that it is navigable for batteaux to its source. From 
thence is a portage of 2 miles only to the Chickago, which af- 
fords a batteau navigation of 16 miles to its entrance into Lake 
Michigan. The Illinois, about 10 miles above its mouth, is 300 
yards wide. 

The Kashashia is 100 yards wide at its entrance into the 
Missisipi, and preserves that breadth to the Buffalo plains, 70 
miles above. So far also it is navigable for loaded batteaux, 
and perhaps much further. It is not rapid. 



8 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 



The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current 
gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks 
and rapids, a single instance only excepted. It is a quarter of 
a mile wide at Fort Pitt ; 500 yards at the mouth of the Great 
Kanhaway ; 1 mile and 25 poles at Louisville ; quarter of a mile 
on the Rapids, 3 or 4 miles below Louis\'ille ; half a mile 
where the low country begins, which is 20 miles above Green 
River ; one and a quarter at the receipt of the Tanissee ; and 
a mile wide at the mouth. Its length, as measured according 
to its meanders by Captain Hutchings, is as follows : 



From Fort Pitt: 










Miles. 




Miles. 


To Log's Town, 


m 


Little Miami, 


1261 


Big Beaver Creek, 


lOf 


Licking Creek, 


8 


Little Beaver Creek, 


13| 


Great Miami, 


26| 


Yellow Creek, 


llf 


Big Bones, 


321 


Two Creeks, 


21| 


Kentuckey, 


44i 


Long Reach, 


53| 


Rapids, 


77i 


End Long Reach, 


m 


Low country, 


155| 


Muskingum, 


251 


BujBfalo River, 


641 


Little Kanhaway, 


m 


Wabash, 


97i 


Hockhocking, 


16 


Big Cave, 


42f 


Great Kanhaway, 


m 


Shawanee River, 


52| 


Guiandot, 


43f 


Cherokee River, 


13 


Sandy Creek, 


14| 


Massac, 


11 


Sioto, 


48^ 


Missisipi, 


46 



1,188 

In common Winter and Spring tides it affords 15 feet water 
to Louisville, 10 feet to La Tarte's Rapids, 40 miles above the 
mouth of the Great Kanhaway, and a sufficiency at all times for 
light batteaux and canoes to Fort Pitt. The Rapids are in la- 
titude 38° 8'. The inundations of this river begin about the 
last of March, and subside in July. During these, a first rate 
man of war may be carried from Louisville to New Orleans, if 
the sudden turns of the river and the strength of its current 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 



9 



"will admit a safe steerage. The Rapids at Louisville descend 
about 30 feet in a length of a mile and a half. The bed of the 
river there is a solid rock, and is divided by an island into two 
branches, the Southern of which is about 200 yards wide, 
and is dry four months in the year. The bed of the Northern 
branch is worn into channels by the constant course of the wa- 
ter, and attrition of the pebble stones carried on with that, so 
as to be passable for batteaux through the greater part of the 
year. Yet it is thought that the Southern arm may be the 
most easily opened for constant navigation. The rise of the 
waters in these rapids does not exceed 10 or 12 feet. A part 
of this island is so high as to have been never overflowed, and 
to command the settlement at Louisville, which is opposite to it. 
The fort, however, is situated at the head of the falls. The 
ground on the South side rises very gradually. 

The Tanissee, Cherokee or Hogohege River is 600 yards 
wide at its mouth, a quarter of a mile at the mouth of Holston, 
and 200 yards at Chotee, which is 20 miles above Holston, and 
300 miles above the mouth of the Tanissee. This river crosses 
the Southern boundary of Virginia, 58 miles from the Mis- 
sisipi. Its current is moderate. It is navigable for loaded 
boats of any burthen to the Muscle Shoals, where the river 
passes through the Cumberland Mountain. These shoals are 6 
or 8 miles long, passable downwards for loaded canoes, but not 
upwards, unless there be a swell in the river. Above these the 
navigation for loaded canoes and batteaux continues to the 
Long Island. This river has its inundations also. Above the 
Chickamogga towns is a whirlpool, called the Sucking Pot, 
which takes in trunks of trees or boats, and throws them out 
again half a mile below. It is avoided by keeping very close 
to the bank, on the South side. There are but a few miles 
portage between a branch of this river and the navigable wa- 
ters of the River Mobile, which runs into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Cumberland, or Shawanee River, intersects the boundary 
between Virginia and North Carolina, 67 miles from the Mis- 
sisipi, and again 198 miles from the same river, a little above 
the entrance of Obey's River into the Cumberland. Its clear 



10 RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 

fork crosses the same boundary, about 300 miles from the Mis- 
sisipi. Cumberland is a very gentle stream, navigable for 
loaded batteaux 800 miles, without interruption; then inter- 
vene some rapids of 15 miles in length, after which it is again 
navigable 70 miles upwards, which brings you within 10 miles 
of the Cumberland mountains. It is about 120 yards wide 
through its whole course, from the head of its navigation to its 
mouth. 

The Wabash is a very beautiful river, 400 yards wide at the 
mouth, and 300 at St. Vincennes, which is a post 100 miles 
above the mouth, in a direct line. Within this space there are 
two small rapids, which give very little obstruction to the na- 
vigation. It is 400 yards wide at the mouth, and navigable 30 
leagues upwards for canoes and small boats. From the mouth 
of Maple River to that of Eel River is about 80 miles in a 
direct line, the river continuing navigable, and from 100 to 
200 yards in width. The Eel River is 150 yards wide, and 
affords at all times navigation for periaguas, to within 18 miles 
of the Miami of the lake. The Wabash, from the mouth of 
Eel River to Little River, a distance of 50 miles direct, is in- 
terrupted with frequent rapids and shoals, which obstruct the 
navigation, except in a swell. Little River affords navigation 
during a swell to within 3 miles of the Miami, which thence 
affords a similar navigation into Lake Erie, 100 miles distant in 
a direct line. The Wabash overflows periodically in corres- 
pondence with the Ohio, and in some places 2 leagues from 
its banks. 

Green River is navigable for loaded batteaux at all times 50 
miles upwards ; but it is then interrupted by impassable rapids, 
above which the navigation again commences, and continues 
good 30 or 40 miles to the mouth of Barren River. 

Kentuchey River is 90 yards wide at the mouth, and also ^-t 
Boonsborough, 80 miles above. It affords a navigation for 
loaded batteaux 180 miles in a direct line, in the Winter tides. 

The Grreat Miami of the Ohio is 200 yards wide at the 
mouth. At the Piccawee towns, 75 miles above, it is reduced 
to 30 yards ; it is, nevertheless, navigable for loaded canoes 50 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 11 

miles above these towns. The portage from its Western branch 
into the Miami of Lake Erie is 5 miles ; that from its East- 
ern branch into Sandusky river is 9 miles. 

Salt River is at all times navigable for loaded batteaux TO or 
80 miles. It is 80 yards wide at its mouth, and keeps that 
width to its fork, 25 miles above. 

The Little Miami of the Ohio is 60 or 70 yards wide at its 
mouth, 60 miles to its source, and affords no navigation. 

The Sioto is 250 yards wide at its mouth, which is in latitude 
38° 22', and at the Saltlick towns, 200 miles above the mouth, 
it is yet 100 yards wide. To these towns it is navigable for 
loaded batteaux, and its Eastern branch affords navigation al- 
most to its source. 

Grreat Sandy River is about 60 yards wide, and navigable 
60 miles for loaded batteaux. 

Cruiandot is about the width of the river last mentioned, but 
is more rapid. It may be navigated by canoes 60 miles. 

The Cfreat KanJiaway is a river of considerable note for the 
fertility of its lands, and still more, as leading towards the 
head waters of James and Roanoke rivers. Nevertheless, it is 
doubtful whether its great and numerous rapids will admit a 
navigation, but at an expense to which it will require ages to 
render its inhabitants equal. The great obstacles begin at what 
are called the great falls, 90 miles above the mouth, below 
which are only 5 or 6 rapids, and these passable, with some 
difficulty, even at low water. From the falls to the mouth of 
Greenbriar is 100 miles, and thence to the lead mines 120. It 
is 280 yards wide at its mouth. It is said, however, that at a 
very moderate expense the whole current of the upper part of 
the Kanhaway may be turned into the South Fork of Roanoke, 
the Alleghaney there subsiding, and the two rivers approaching 
so near, that a canal of 9 miles long, and of 30 feet depth, at 
the deepest part, would draw the water of the Kanhaway into 
this branch of the Roanoke ; this canal would be in Mont- 
gomery county, the court-house of which is on the top of the 
Alleghaney. 



12 RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 

HocTchocking is 80 yards wide at its mouth, and yields na- 
vigation for loaded batteaux to the Press Place, 60 miles above 
its mouth. 

The Little Kanhaway is 150 yards Tvide at the mouth. It 
yields a navigation of 10 miles only. Perhaps its Northern 
branch, called Junius's Creek, which interlocks with the West- 
ern of Monongahela, may one day admit a shorter passage 
from the latter into the Ohio. 

The Muskingum is 280 yards wide at its mouth, and 200 
yards at the lower Indian towns, 150 miles upwards. It is na- 
vigable for small batteaux to within one mile of a navigable 
part of Cayahoga River, which runs into Lake Erie. 

At Fort Pitt the River Ohio loses its name, branching into 
the Monongahela and Alleghaney. 

The 3Ionongaliela is 400 yards wide at its mouth. From 
thence is 12 or 15 miles to the mouth of Yohoganey, where it 
is 300 yards wide. Thence to Red Stone by water is 50 miles, 
by land 30. Then to the mouth of Cheat River by water 40 
miles, by land 28, the width continuing at 300 yards, and the 
navigation good for boats. Thence the Avidth is about 200 yards 
to the Western Fork, 50 miles higher, and the navigation fre- 
quently interrupted by rapids ; which, however, with a swell 
of 2 or 3 feet become very passable for boats. It then ad- 
mits light boats, except in dry seasons, 65 miles further to the 
head of Tygart's Valley, presenting only some small rapids and 
falls of 1 or 2 feet perpendicular, and lessening in its width 
to 20 yards. The Western Forh is navigable in the Winter 10 
or 15 miles towards the Northern of the Little Kanhaway, and 
will admit a good wagon road to it. The Yohoganey is the 
principal branch of this river. It passes through the Laurel 
Mountain, about 30 miles from its mouth ; is so far from 300 
to 150 yards wide, and the navigation much obstructed in dry 
weather by rapids and shoals. In its passage through the 
mountain it makes very great falls, admitting no navigation for 
10 miles to the Turkey Foot. Thence to the great crossing, 
about 20 miles, it is again navigable, except in dry seasons, and 
at this place is 200 yards wide. The sources of this river are 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 13 

divided from those of the Patowmac by the Alleghaney Moun- 
tain. From the falls, where it intersects the Laurel Mountain, 
to Fort Cumberland, the head of the navigation on the Patow- 
mac, is 40 miles of very mountainous road. Wills's Creek, at 
the mouth of which was Fort Cumberland, is 30 or 40 yards 
wide, but affords no navigation as yet. Cheat River, another 
considerable branch of the Monongahela, is 200 yards wide at 
its mouth, and 100 yards at the Dunkard's settlement, 50 miles 
higher. It is navigable for boats, except in dry seasons. The 
boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania crosses it about 
3 or 4 miles above its mouth. 

The Alleghaney River, with a slight swell, affords navigation 
for light batteaux to Venango, at the mouth of French Creek, 
where it is 200 yards wide ; and it is practised even to Le Boeuf, 
from whence there is a portage of 15 miles to Presque Isle, on 
Lake Erie. 

The country watered by the Missisipi and its Eastern 
branches, constitutes five-eighths of the United States, two of 
which five-eighths are occupied by the Ohio and its waters ; the 
residuary streams which run into the Gulf of Mexico, the At- 
lantic, and the St. Laurence, water the remaining three-eighths. 

Before we quit the subject of the Western waters, we will 
take a view of their principal connections with the Atlantic. 
These are three ; the Hudson's river, the Patowmac, and the 
Missisipi itself. Down the last will pass all heavy commodi- 
ties. But the navigation through the Gulf of Mexico is so 
dangerous, and that up the Missisipi so difficult and tedious, 
that it is thought probable that European merchandise will not 
return through that channel. It is most likely that flour, tim- 
ber, and other heavy articles will be floated on rafts, which will 
themselves be an article for sale as well as their loading, the 
navigators returning by land or in light batteaux. There will 
therefore be a competition between the Hudson and Patow- 
mac rivers for the residue of the commerce of all the country 
westward of Lake Erie, on the waters of the lakes, of the 
Ohio, and upper parts of the Missisipi. To go to New York, 
that part of the trade which comes from the lakes or their wa- 



14 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 



ters must first be brought into Lake Erie. Between Lake Su- 
perior and its waters and Huron are the Rapids of St. Mary, 
which will permit boats to pass, but not larger vessels. Lakes 
Huron and Michigan afford communication with Lake Erie by 
vessels of 8 feet draught. That part of the trade which comes 
from the waters of the Missisipi must pass from them through 
some portage into the waters of the lakes. The portage from 
the Illinois River into a water of Michigan is of 1 mile only. 
From the Wabash, Miami, Muskingum, or Alleghaney, are port- 
ages into the waters of Lake Erie, of from 1 to 15 miles. 
When the commodities are brought into, and have passed 
through Lake Erie, there is between that and Ontario an inter- 
ruption by the falls of Niagara, where the portage is of 8 miles ; 
and between Ontario and the Hudson's River are portages at 
the falls of Onondago, a little above Oswego, of a quarter of a 
mile ; from Wood Creek to the Mohawks River 2 miles ; at the 
little falls of the Mohawks River half a mile, and from Sche- 
nectady to Albany 16 miles. Besides the increase of expense 
occasioned by frequent change of carriage, there is an increased 
risk of pillage produced by committing merchandise to a greater 
number of hands successively. The Patowmac offers itself un- 
der the following circumstances. For the trade of the lakes 
and their waters westward of Lake Erie, when it shall have en- 
tered that lake, it must coast along its Southern shore, on ac- 
count of the number and excellence of its harbors, the North- 
ern, though shortest, having few harbors, and these unsafe. 
Having reached Cayahoga, to proceed on to New York it will 
have 825 miles and five portages ; whereas it is but 425 miles to 
Alexandria, its emporium on the Patowmac, if it turns into the 
Cayahoga, and passes through that, Bigbeaver, Ohio, Yohoga- 
ney, (or Monongalia and Cheat,) and Patowmac, and there are 
but two portages ; the first of which between Cayahoga and 
Beaver may be removed by uniting the sources of these Ava- 
ters, which are lakes in the neighborhood of each other, and 
in a champaign country; the other from the waters of Ohio 
to Patowmac will be from 15 to 40 miles, according to the 
trouble which shall betaken to approach the two navigations. 



RIVERS AND NAVIGATION. 15 

For the trade of the Ohio, or that which shall come into it from 
its own waters or the Missisipi, it is nearer through the Pa- 
towmac to Alexandria than to New York by 580 miles, and it 
is interrupted by one portage only. There is another circum- 
stance of difference too. The lakes themselves never freeze, 
but the communications between them freeze, and the Hudson's 
River is itself shut up by the ice three months in the year ; where- 
as the channel to the Chesapeake leads directly into a warmer 
climate. The Southern parts of it very rarely freeze at all, 
and whenever the Northern do, it is so near the sources of the 
rivers, that the frequent floods to which they are there liable 
break up the ice immediately, so that vessels may pass through 
the whole Winter, subject only to accidental and short delays. 
Add to all this, that in case of a war with our neighbors, the 
Anglo-Americans or the Indians, the route to New York be- 
comes a frontier through almost its whole length, and all com- 
merce through it ceases from that moment. But the channel 
to New York is already known to practice ; whereas the upper 
waters of the Ohio and the Patowmac, and the great falls of 
the latter, are yet to be cleared of their fixed obstructions (1.) 



QUEKT III 



A NOTICE OF THE BEST SEA PORTS OF THE STATE, AND HOW BIG 
ARE THE VESSELS THEY CAN RECEIVE ? 

Having no ports but our rivers and creeks, this query has 
been answered under the preceding one. 



16 MOUNTAINS. 



QUERY lY, 



A NOTICE OF ITS MOUNTAINS ? 

For the particular geography of our mountains I must refer 
to Fry and JeJBferson's map of Virginia, and to Evans's analysis 
of his map of America for a more philosophical view of them 
than is to be found in any other work. It is worthy of notice, 
that our mountains are not solitary and scattered confusedly 
over the face of the country, but that they commence at about 
150 miles from the sea-coast, are disposed in ridges one behind 
another, running nearly parallel with the sea-coast, though ra- 
ther approaching it as they advance Northeastwardly. To the 
Southwest, as the tract of country between the sea-coast and 
the Missisipi becomes narrower, the mountains converge into 
a single ridge, which, as it approaches the Gulf of Mexico, sub- 
sides into plain country, and gives rise to some of the waters of 
that Gulf, and particularly to a river called the Apalachicola, 
probably from the Apalachies, an Indian nation formerly resi- 
ding on it. Hence the mountains giving rise to that river, and 
seen from its various parts, were called the Apalachian moun- 
tains, being in fact the end or termination only of the great 
ridges passing through the continent. European geographers 
however extended the name northwardly as far as the moun- 
tains extended; some giving it, after their separation into dif- 
ferent ridges, to the Blue Ridge, others to the North Mountain, 
others to the Alleghaney, others to the Laurel Ridge, as may be 
seen in their different maps. But the fact I believe is, that 
none of these ridges were ever known by that name to the in- 
habitants, either native or emigrant, but as they saw them so 
called in European maps. In the same direction generally are 
the veins of lime stone, coal and other minerals hitherto dis- 
covered ; and so range the falls of our great rivers. But the 



MOUNTAINS. 17 

courses of the great rivers are at right angles with these. 
James and Patowmac penetrate through all the ridges of moun- 
tains eastward of the Alleghaney ; that is broken by no water- 
course. It is in fact the spine of the country between the At- 
lantic on one side, and the Missisipi and St. Laurence on the 
other. The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is 
perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You 
stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up 
the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain 
an hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the 
Patowmac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their 
junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asun- 
der, and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene 
hurries our senses into the opinion, that this earth has been 
created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the 
rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly 
they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains, 
and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley ; that 
continuing to rise they have at length broken over at this spot, 
and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. 
The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the She- 
nandoah, the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion 
from their beds by the most powerful agents of Nature, corro- 
borate the impression. But the distant finishing which Nature 
has given to the picture is of a very difierent character. It is 
a true contrast to the foreground. It is as placid and delight- 
ful as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountain being 
cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a 
small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in 
the plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tu- 
mult roaring around, to pass through the breach and participate ' 
of the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself ; 
and that way too the road happens actually to lead. You cross 
the Patowmac above the junction, pass along its side through 
the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible precipices 
hanging in fragments over you, and within about 20 miles reach 
Frederic Town, and the fine country round that. This scene is 
2 



18 MOUNTAINS. 

worth a voyage across the Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neigh- 
borhood of the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed 
their lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to 
survey these monuments of a war between rivers and moun- 
tains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its centre.* (2) 

The height of our mountains has not yet been estimated with 
any degree of exactness. The Alleghaney being the great ridge 
which divides the waters of the Atlantic from those of the Mis- 
sisipi, its summit is doubtless more elevated above the ocean 
than that of any other mountain. But its relative height, com- 
pared with the base on which it stands, is not so great as that 
of some others, the country rising behind the successive ridges 
like the steps of stairs. The mountains of the Blue Ridge, 
and of these the Peaks of Otter, are thought to be of a greater 
height, measured from their base, than any others in our coun- 
try, and perhaps in North America. From data, which may 
found a tolerable conjecture, we suppose the highest peak to 
be about 4,000 feet perpendicular, which is not a fifth part of 
the height of the mountains of South America, f nor one-third 
of the height which would be necessary in our latitude to pre- 
serve ice in the open air unmelted through the year. The ridge 
of mountains next beyond the Blue Ridge, called by us the 
North Mountain, is of the greatest extent; for which reason 
they were named by the Indians the Endless mountains. 

[To what is here said on the height of mountains, subsequent 
information has enabled me to furnish some additions and cor- 
rections. 

General Williams, nephew of Dr. Franklin, on a journey from 
Richmond by the Warm and Red Springs to the Alleghaney, 
has estimated by barometrical observations the height of some 
of our ridges of mountains above the tide-water, as follows : 

* Herodotus, 1. 7, c. 129, after stating that Thessaly is a plain country sur- 
rounded by high mountains, from which there is no outlet but the fissure through 
■which the Peneus flows, and that according to ancient tradition it had once been 
an entire lake, supposes that fissure to have been made by an earthquake rending 
the mountain asunder, 

■j- 1. Epoques, 434. Musschenbroek, ^ 2,312. 2. Epoques, 317. 



MOUNTAINS. 19 

Feet. 
The Eastern base of the Blue Ridge subjacent to Rock- 
fish Gap, - - - - - - 100 

Summit of the mountain adjacent to that Gap, - - 1,822 
The valley constituting the Eastern basis of the Warm 

Spring Mountain, _ . . - . 943 

Summit of the Warm Spring Mountain, - - - 2,24T 

The Western valley of the Warm Spring Mountain, being 

the Eastern base of the Alleghaney, - - - 949 

Summit of the Alleghanej, 6 miles Southwest of the Red 
Springs, ----- -2,760 

In November, 1815, with a Ramsden's theodolite of 3J 
inches radius, with nonius divisions to 3', and a base of 
IJ mile on the low grounds of Otter River, distant 4 
' miles from the summits of the two peaks of Otter, I 
measured geometrically their heights above the water 
of the river at its base, and found that of the sharp 
or South peak ------ 2,946| 

That of the flat or North peak - - - - 3,103^ 

As we may with confidence say that the base of the peaks is 
at least as high above the tide-water at Richmond as that of 
the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap, (being 40 miles farther west- 
ward,) and their highest summit of course 3,203|- feet above 
that tide-water, it follows that the summit of the highest peak 
is 343^ feet higher than that of the Alleghaney, as measured by 
General Williams. 

The highest of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, by 
barometrical estimate made by Captain Partridge, was found to 
be 4,885 feet from its base, and the highest of the Catskill 
mountains in New York 3,105 feet. 

Two observations, with an excellent pocket sextant, gave 
a mean of 37° 28' 50" for the latitude of the sharp peak of 
Otter. 

Baron Humboldt states that in latitude 37°, (which is nearly 
over medium parallel,) perpetual snow is no where known so 
low as 1,200 toises=7,671 feet above the level of the sea, and 
in sesquialteral ratio nearly to the highest peak of Otter.] 



20 MOUNTAINS — SPRING. 

A substance supposed to be Pumice, found floating on the 
Missisipi, has induced a conjecture, that there is a volcano on 
some of its waters ; and as these are mostly known to their 
sources, except the Missoiu'i, our expectations of verifying the 
conjectui-e would of course be led to the mountains which di- 
vide the waters of the Mexican Gulf from those of the South 
Sea ; but no volcano having ever yet been known at such a dis- 
tance from the sea, we must rather suppose that this floating 
substance has been erroneously deemed Pumice.* 



QUERY V. 



ITS CASCADES AND CAVERNS ? f 

The only remarkable cascade in this | country, is that of the 
Falling Spring in Augusta. It is a water of James River, 
where it is called Jackson's River, rising in the Warm Spring 
mountains, about 20 miles Southwest of the Warm Spring, and 
flowing from that valley. About three quarters of a mile from 
its source, it falls over a rock 200 feet into the valley below. 
The sheet of water is broken in its breadth by the rock in two 
or three places, but not at all in its height. Between the sheet 

* 2. Epoques, 91, 112. f See Map No. 1, App. iv. 

J Bouguer mentions a cascade of two or three hundred toises height of the Bo- 
gota, a considerable river passing by Santa Fe. The cataract is vertical, and is about 
15 or 16 leagues below Santa Fe. — Bouguer, xci. BufFon mentions one of 300 feet 
at Terni, in Italy. 1. Epoques, 470. 



SPRING. — MADISON'S CAVE. 21 

and rock at the bottom you may walk across dry. This cata- 
ract will bear no comparison with that of Niagara, as to the 
quantity of water composing it; the sheet being only 12 or 15 
feet wide above, and somewhat more spread below ; but it is 
half as high again, the latter being only 156 feet, according to 
the mensuration made by order of M. Vaudreuil, Governor of 
Canada, and 130 according to a more recent account. 

In the Lime Stone country there are many caverns of very 
considerable extent. The most noted is called Madison's Cave,* 
and is on the North side of the Blue Ridge, near the intersec- 
tion of the Rockingham and Augusta line with the South fork 
of the Southern river of Shenandoah. It is in a hill of about 
200 feet perpendicular height, the ascent of which on one side 
is so steep, that you may pitch a biscuit from its summit into 
the river which washes its base. The entrance of the cave is 
in this side about two-thirds of the way up. It extends into the 
earth about 300 feet, branching into subordinate caverns, some- 
times ascending a little, but more generally descending, and at 
length terminates in two different places at basons of water of 
unknown extent, and which I should judge to be nearly on a 
level with the water of the river ; however, I do not think they 
are formed by refluent water from that, because they are never 
turbid ; because they do not rise and fall in correspondence 
with that in times of flood, or of drought, and because the 
water is always cool. It is probably one of the many reser- 
voirs with which the interior parts of the earth are supposed to 
abound, and which yield supplies to the fountains of water, 
distinguished from others only by its being accessible. The 
vault of this cave is of solid lime stone, from 20 to 40 or 50 
feet high, through which water is continually percolating. This, 
trickling down the sides of the cave, has incrusted them over 
in the form of elegant drapery ; and dripping from the top of 
the vault generates on that, and on the base below, stalactites 
of a conical form, some of which have met arid formed massive 
columns. 

* See Map No. 2, App. ir. 



22 BLOWING CAVE — NATURAL BRIDGE. 

Another of these caves is near the North Mountain, in the 
county of Frederick, on the lands of Mr. Zane. The entrance 
into this is on the top of an extensive ridge. You descend 30 
or 40 feet, as into a well, from whence the cave then extends, 
nearly horizontally, 400 feet into the earth, preserving a 
breadth of from 20 to 50 feet, and a height of from 5 to 12 
feet. After entering this cave a few feet, the mercuiy, which 
in the open air was at 50°, rose to 57° of Farenheit's thermo- 
meter, answering to 11° of Reaumur's, and it continued at that 
to the remotest parts of the cave. The uniform temperature 
of the cellars of the observatory of Paris, which are 90 feet 
deep, and of all subterranean cavities of any depth, where no 
chymical agents may be supposed to produce a factitious heat, 
has been found to be 10° of Reaumur, equal to 54|° of Faren- 
heit. The temperature of the cave above mentioned so nearly 
corresponds with this, that the difference may be ascribed to a 
difference of instruments. 

At the Panther Gap, in the ridge which divides the waters 
of the Cow and the Calf Pasture, is what is called the Blowing 
Cave. It is in the side of a hill, is of about 100 feet diameter, 
and emits constantly a current of air of such force, as to keep 
the weeds prostrate to the distance of 20 yards before it. This 
current is strongest in dry frosty weather, and in long spells of 
rain weakest. Regular inspirations and expirations of air, by 
caverns and fissures, have been probably enough accounted for, 
by supposing them combined with intermitting fountains; as 
they must of course inhale air while their reserviors are empty- 
ing themselves, and again emit it while they are filling. But 
a constant issue of air, only varying in its force as the weather 
is dryer or damper, will require a new hypothesis.* There is 
another Blowing Cave in the Cumberland Mountain, about a 
mile from where it crosses the Carolina line. All we know of 
this is, that it is not constant, and that a fountain of water is- 
sues from it. 

The Natural Bridge, the most sublime of Nature's works, 
though not comprehended under the present head, must not be 

* See Musschenbroek, g 2,604. 



NATURAL BRIDGE. 23 

pretermitted. It is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to 
have been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. 
The fissure just at the bridge is, by some admeasurements, 270 
feet deep, by others only 205. It is about 45 feet wide at the 
bottom, and 90 feet at the top ; this of course determines the 
length of the bridge, and its height from the water. Its 
breadth in the middle is about 60 feet, but more at the ends, 
and the thickness of the mass at the summit of the arch about 
40 feet. A part of this thickness is constituted by a coat of 
earth, which gives growth to many large trees. The residue, 
with the hill on both sides, is one solid rock of lime stone. The 
arch approaches the semi-elliptical form ; but the larger axis 
of the ellipsis, which would be the cord of the arch, is many 
times longer than the semi-axis which gives its height. Though 
the sides of this bridge are provided in some parts with a para- 
pet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution to walk to them 
and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily fall on your 
hands and feet, creep to the parapet and peep over it. Looking 
down from this height about a minute gave me a violent head- 
ache. This painful sensation is relieved by a short but pleas- 
ing view of the Blue Ridge along the fissure downwards, and 
upwards by that of the short hills, Avhich, with the Purgatory 
Mountain, is a divergence from the North Ridge ; and de- 
scending then to the valley below, the sensation becomes de- 
lightful in the extreme. It is impossible for the emotions aris- 
ing from the sublime to be felt beyond what they are here : so 
beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing as it were 
up to heaven, the rapture of the spectator is really indescriba- 
ble. The fissure continues deep and narrow, and following the 
margin of the stream upwards, about three-eighths of a mile, 
you arrive at a lime stone cavern, less remarkable however for 
height and extent than those before described. Its entrance 
into the hill is but a few feet above the bed of the stream. 
This bridge is in the county of Rockbridge, to which it has 
given name, and afibrds a public and commodious passage over 
a valley, which cannot be crossed elsewhere for a considerable 
distance. The stream passing under it is called Cedar Creek. 



24 NATURAL BRIDGE. 

It is a water of James River, and sufficient in the dryest sea- 
sons to turn a grist mill, though its fountain is not more than 

two miles above. * 
« 

[Note. — This description was written after a lapse of seve- 
ral years from the time of my visit to the bridge, and under 
an error of recollection which requires apology, for it is from 
the bridge itself that the mountains are visible both ways, and 
not from the bottom of the fissure, as my impression then was. 
The statement therefore in the former editions needs the cor- 
rections here given to it. August 16, 1817.] 

* Don UUoa mentions a break similar to this in the province of Angaraez, in South 
America. It is from 16 to 22 feet wide, 111 feet deep, and of 1.3 miles continuance, 
English measures. Its breadth at top is not sensibly greater than at bottom. But 
the following fact is remarkable, and will furnish some light for conjecturing the 
probable origin of our Natural Bridge. " Esta caxa, 6 cauce esta cortada en p6na 
viva con tanta precision, que las desigualdades del un lado entrantes, corresponden 
a las del otro lado salientes, eomo si aquella altura se hubiese abierto expresamente, 
con sus bueltas y tortuosidades, para darle transito a los aguas por entre los dos 
murallones que la forman ; siendo tal su igualdad, que si Uegasen a juntarse se en- 
dentarian uno con otro sin dexar hueco." Not. Amer. II. § 10. Don Ulloa inclines 
to the opinion, that this channel has been effected by the wearing of the water 
which runs through it, rather than that the mountain should have been broken 
open by any convulsion of Nature. But if it had been worn by the running of wa- 
ter, would not the rocks which form the sides have been worn plane ? or if, meeting 
in some parts with veins of harder stone, the water had left prominences on the one 
side, would not the same cause have sometimes, or perhaps generally, occasioned pro- 
minences on the other side also ? Yet Don UUoa tells us that on the other side there 
are always corresponding cavities, and that these tally with the prominences so per- 
fectly, that were the two sides to come together, they would fit in all their inden- 
tures without leaving any void. I think that this does not resemble the effect of 
running water, but looks rather as if the two sides had parted asunder. The sides 
of the break, over which is the Natural Bridge of Virginia, consisting of a veiny 
rock which yields to Time, the correspondence between the salient and re-entering 
inequalities, if it existed at all, has now disappeared. This break has the advan- 
tage of the one described by Don Ulloa in its finest circumstance ; no portion in that 
instance having held together, during the separation of the other parts, so as to 
form a bridge over the abyss. 

Another is mentioned by Clavigero : " II ponte di dio. Cosi chiamano un vasto 
volume di terra traversato sul profondo fiume Atoyaque presso al villaggio Moleasac, 
cento miglia in circa da Messico verso Scirocco, sopra il quale passano comodamente 
icarri e le carrozze. Si puo credere, che sia stato un frammento della vicina mon- 
tagna, da qualche antico tremuoto strappato." Storia del Messico, L. 1., § 3. 



MINERALS — GOLD — LEAD. 25 



QUERY YI. 



A NOTICE OF THE MINES AND OTHER SUBTERRANEOUS RICHES ; 
ITS TREES, PLANTS, FRUITS, &C. ? 



I knew a single instance of gold found in this State. It was 
interspersed in small specks through a lump of ore, of about 
four pounds weight, which yielded seventeen pennyweight of 
gold, of extraordinary ductility. This ore was found on the 
North side of Rappahanock, about four miles below the falls. 
I never heard of any other indication of gold in its neigh- 
borhood. 

On the Great Kanhaway, opposite to the mouth of Cripple 
Creek, and about 25 miles from our Southern boundary, in the 
county of Montgomery, are mines of lead. The metal is mix- 
ed, sometimes with earth, and sometimes with rock, which re- 
quires the force of gunpowder to open it ; and is accompanied 
with a portion of silver, too small to be worth separation under 
any process hitherto attempted there. The proportion yielded 
is from 50 to 80 ft of pure metal from 100 ft of washed 
ore. The most common is that of 60 to the 100 ft. The 
veins are at some times most flattering ; at others they disap- 
pear suddenly and totally. They enter the side of the hill, 
and proceed horizontally. Two of them are wrought at pre- 
sent by the public, the best of which is 100 yards under the 
hill. These would employ about 50 laborers to advantage. 
We have not, however, more than 30 generally, and these cul- 
tivate their own corn. They have produced 60 tons of lead in 
the year ; but the general quantity is from 20 to 25 tons. The 



26 GOLD — LEAD — COPPER. 

present fui-nace is a mile from the ore bank, and on the oppo- 
site side of the river. The ore is first wagoned to the river, a 
quarter of a mile, then laden on board of canoes and carried 
across the river, which is there about 200 yards wide, and then 
again taken into wagons and carried to the furnace. This 
mode was originally adopted, {that they might avail themselves 
of a good situation on a creek for a pounding mill ; but it would 
be easy to have the furnace and pounding mill on the same side 
of the river, which would yield water, without any dam, by a 
canal of about half a mile in length. From the furnace the 
lead is transported 130 miles along a good road, leading through 
the peaks of Otter to Lynch's Ferry, or Winston's, on James 
River, from whence it is carried by water about the same dis- 
tance to Westham. This land carriage may be greatly short- 
ened by delivering the lead on James River, above the Blue 
Ridge, from whence a ton weight has been brought on tAvo ca- 
noes. The Great Kanhaway has considerable falls in the neigh- 
borhood of the mines. About seven miles below are three 
falls, of three or four feet perpendicular each ; and three miles 
above is a rapid of three miles continuance, which has been 
compared in its descent to the great fall of James River. Yet 
it is the opinion that they may be laid open for useful naviga- 
tion, so as to reduce very much the portage between the Kan- 
haway and James River. 

A valuable lead mine is said to have been lately discovered 

in Cumberland, below the mouth of Red River. The greatest, 

* . . . . 
however, known in the Western country are on the Missisipi, 

extending from the mouth of Rock River, 150 miles upwards. 
These are not wrought, the lead used in that country being 
from the banks on the Spanish side of the Missisipi, oppo- 
site to Kaskaskia. 

A mine of copper was once opened in the county of Amherst, 
on the North side of James River, and another in the opposite 
country, on the South side. However, either from bad manage- 
ment or the poverty of the veins, they were discontinued. We 
are told of a rich mine of native copper on the Ouabache, be- 
low the upper Wiaw. 



IRON — BLACK LEAD — PIT COAL. 2T 

The mines of iron worked at present are Callaway's, Ross's, 
and Ballendine's, on the South side of James River ; Old's on 
the North side, in Albemarle ; Millar's, in Augusta, and Zane's, 
in Frederick. These two last are in the valley between the Blue 
Ridge and North Mountain. Callaway's, Ross's, Millar's, and 
Zane's, make about 150 tons of bar iron each in the year. 
Ross's makes also about 1,600 tons of pig iron annually; Bal- 
lendine's 1,000 ; Callaway's, Millar's, and Zane's, about 600 
each. Besides these, a forge of Mr. Hunter's, at Fredericks- 
burgh, makes about 300 tons a year of bar iron, from pigs im- 
ported from Maryland ; and Taylor's forge, on Neapsco of Pa- 
towmac, works in the same way, but to what extent I am not in- 
formed. The indications of iron in other places are numerous, 
and dispersed through all the middle country. The toughness 
of the cast iron of Ross's and Zane's furnaces is very remark- 
able. Pots and other utensils, cast thinner than usual, of this 
iron, may be safely thrown into or out of the wagons in which 
they are transported. Salt pans made of the same, and no 
longer wanted for that purpose, cannot be broken up, in order 
to be melted again, unless previously drilled in many parts. 

In the Western country we are told of iron mines between 
the Muskingum and Oliio ; of others on Kentuckey, between 
the Cumberland and Barren rivers, between Cumberland and 
Tanissee, on Reedy Creek, near the Long Island, and on Chest- 
nut Creek, a branch of the Great Kanhaway, near where it 
crosses the Carolina line. What are called the iron banks, on 
the Missisipi, are believed, by a good judge, to have no iron 
in them. In general, from what is hitherto known of that coun- 
try, it seems to want iron. 

Considerable quantities of black lead are taken occasionally 
for use from Winterham, in the county of Amelia. I am not 
able, however, to give a particular state of the mine. There is 
no work established at it, those who want, going and procui'ing 
it for themselves. 

The country on James River, from 15 to 20 miles above 
Richmond, and for several miles northward and southward, is 
replete with mineral coal of a very excellent quality. Being 



28 PRECIOUS STONES — MARBLE — LIME STONE. 

in the hands of many proprietors, pits have been opened, and 
before the interruption of our commerce, were worked to an 
extent equal to the demand. 

In the Western country coal is known to be in so many 
places, as to have induced an opinion that the whole tract be- 
tween the Laurel Mountain, Missisipi, and Ohio, yields coal. 
It is also known in many places on the North side of the Ohio. 
The coal at Pittsburg is of very superior quality. A bed of it 
at that place has been afire since the year 1765. Another 
coal hill on the Pike Run of Monongahela has been afire ten 
years ; yet it has burnt away about twenty yards only. 

I have known one instance of an Emerald found in this coun- 
try. Amethysts have been frequent, and chrystals common ; 
yet not in such numbers any of them as to be worth seeking. 

There is very good marble, and in very great abundance, on 
James River, at the mouth of Rockfish. The samples I have 
seen, were some of them of a white as pure as one might ex- 
pect to find on the surface of the earth ; but most of them were 
variegated with red, blue and purple. None of it has been ever 
worked. It forms a very large precipice, which hangs over a 
navigable part of the river. It is said there is marble at Ken- 
tuckey. 

But one vein of lime stone is known below the Blue Ridge. 
Its first appearance in our country is in Prince William, two 
miles below the Pignut Ridge of mountains ; thence it passes 
on nearly parallel with that, and crosses the Rivanna about five 
miles below it, where it is called the Southwest ridge. It then 
crosses Hardware, above the mouth of Hudson's Creek, James 
River at the mouth of Rockfish, at the marble quarry before 
spoken of, probably runs up that river to where it appears again 
at Ross's iron works, and so passes off southwestwardly by Flat 
Creek of Otter River. It is never more than one hundred 
yards wide. From the Blue Ridge westwardly, the whole coun- 
try seems to be founded on a rock of lime stone, besides in- 
finite quantities on the surface, both loose and fixed. This is 
cut into beds, which range, as the mountains and sea-coast do, 
from Southwest to Northeast, the lamina of each bed declining 



LIME STONE. 29 

from the horizon towards a parallelism with the axis of the 
earth. Being struck with this observation, I made, with a 
quadrant, a great number of trials on the angles of their de- 
clination, and found them to vary from 22° to 60°, but aver- 
aging all my trials, the result was within one-third of a degree 
of the elevation of the pole or latitude of the place, and much 
the greatest part of them taken separately were little different 
from that, by which it appears that these laminae are in the 
main parallel with the axis of the earth. In some instances, 
indeed, I found them perpendicular, and even reclining the 
other way ; but these were extremely rare, and always attended 
with signs of convulsion, or other circumstances of singularity, 
which admitted a possibility of removal from their original po- 
sition. These trials were made between Madison's Cave and 
the Patowmac. We hear of lime stone on the Missisipi and 
Ohio, and in all the mountainous country between the Eastern 
and Western waters, not on the mountains themselves, but oc- 
cupying the valleys between them. 

Adjacent to the vein of lime stone first mentioned, or at least 
to som6 parts of it, is a vein of slate of greater breadth than that 
of the lime stone, sometimes mixed with it, some times a small 
distance apart from it. The neighborhood of these veins of lime 
stone, and slate, and of lime stone and schist, between the North 
Mountain and Blue Ridge, coincides with the following obser- 
vations of Bouguer, while in Peru : " Le marbre est tres com- 
mun sur le bord de plusieurs de ces rivieres : on y voit aussi des 
rochers d' ardoise & j'ai souvent eu occasion d'y observer la 
grande affinity qu 'il y a entre ces deux sortes de pierre. J'avois 
deja fait cette remarque dans la Cordeliere. Les rochers de 
marbre et d' ardoise s 'y touchent souvent, et j 'en ai vu qui 
etoit ardoise par une extremite et marbre parfait par I'autre. 
Toutes les fois qui'il survient unnouveausuc pierreux analogue 
a r ardoise et qui en unit les feuilles, il rend tout le rocher plus 
compacte et plus dur ; le rocher cesse d' etre de 1' ardoise pour 
devenir du marbre. Une pierre dgalement distribute par feu- 
illes qu'on nomme schite, est aussi sujette k cette transforma- 
tion. Quelquefois ce ne sont pas simplement ses feuilles qui se 



30 ' LIME STONE. 

soudent entr' elles iin quartier de cette pierre se joint comme au 
hazard avec iin autre. Si le tout est .ensuite exposd si V action 
du gravier & des cailloux roules par un eau courante, et qu 'il 
rcQoive une sorte d' arrondissement qui le rende a peu pres cy- 
lindrique, il prend toutes les apparences d' un tronc d' arbre ; et 
il est meme quelquefois tres difficile de ne s 'y pas tromper. Je 
fus tres facli^ de ne pouvoir porter avec moi une de ces-especes 
de tronc que je trouvai dans une ravine entre Guanacas et la 
Plata, au pied d'une colline nommde la Subida del Frayle. 
C 'etoit un morceau de marbre qui avoit 20 pouces de longueur 
sur 17 on 18 de diametre ; on distinguoit comme les fibres du 
bois, la surface presente des noeuds de diverses formes ; le 
contour meme du tronc etoit ^galement propre ^ en imposer. 
II y avoit un enfoncement d' un cote qui formoit un angle ren- 
trant, et une saillie du cot^ oppos^. Je ne s^avois qu 'en pen- 
ser, de meme que les personnes qui m 'accompagnoient. Je ne 
reussis enfin a me decider, qu 'en jettant les yeux sur d 'autres 
quartiers de schite qui etoient aupr^s, qui commencoient 6, pren- 
dre les memes apparences, mais qui n' etoient pas encore dans 
un etat a pouvoir jetter dans 1' erreur, et qui au contraire m' 
eclairerent sur la nature du morceau de marbre. On pretend 
qu 'entre les different bois c 'est le gayac qui se petrifie le plus 
aisement. On m'assuroit que je verrois audessou de Mompox 
une croix dont tout le haut de 1' arbre etoit encore de ce bois 
pendant que le bas etoit reellement de la pierre a fusil. Plu- 
sieurs personnes m' affirmerent en avoir tir^ du feu. Lorsque 
je passai dans cet endroit on me confirma la meme chose ; mais 
on m'ajonta qu'une crue extraordinaire avoit fait tomber la 
croix dans la riviere, il y avoit 6 4 7 ans. Page xciii. 

Near the Eastern foot of the North Mountain are immense 
bodies of schist, containing impressions of shells in a variety of 
forms. I have received petrified shells of very difi'erent kinds 
from the first sources of the Kentuckey, which bear no resem- 
blance to any I have ever seen on the tide-waters. It is said * 

* On whose authority has it been said ? Bouguer, the best witness respecting the 
Andes, speaking of Peru, says "on n'y distingue aucun vestige des grandes inon- 
dations qui ont laisse tant de marques dans toutes les autres regions. J 'ai fait tout 
mon possible pour y decouvrir quelque coquille, mais toujours inutilement. Appa- 
ramment que les montagnes du Perou sont trop hautes." Bouguer, xv. 

See 4 Clavigero, Diss. 3, § 1. See 2. Epoques 26S. 1. Epoques 415. 



LIME STONE. 31 

that shells are found in the Andes, in South America, 15,000 
feet above the level of the ocean. This is considered by many, 
both of the learned and unlearned, as a proof of an universal 
■deluge. To the many considerations opposing this opinion, the 
following may be added. The atmosphere, and all its contents, 
whether of water, air, or other matters, gravitate to the earth ; 
that is to say, they have weight. Experience tells us that the 
weight of all these together never exceeds that of a column of 
mercury of 31 inches height, which is equal to one of rain wa- 
ter of 35 feet high. If the whole contents of the atmosphere 
then were water, instead of what they are, it would cover the 
globe but 35 feet deep ; but as these waters as they fell would 
run into the seas, the superficial measure of which is to that of 
the dry parts of the globe as two to one, the seas would be 
raised only 52|- feet above their present level, and of course 
would overflow the lands to that height only.* In Virginia 
this would be a very small proportion even of the champaign 
country, the banks of our tide-waters being frequently, if not 
generally, of a greater height. Deluges beyond this extent 
then, as for instance, to the North Mountain or to Kentuckey, 
seem out of the laws of Nature. But within it they may have 
taken place to a greater or less degree, in proportion to the 
combination of natural causes which may be supposed to have 
produced them. History renders probable some instances of a 
partial deluge in the country lying round the Mediterranean 
sea. It has been often supposed, f and is not unlikely, that 
that sea was once a lake. While such, let us admit an extraor- 
dinary collection of the waters of the atmosphere from the 
other parts of the globe to have been discharged over that and 
the countries Avhose waters run into it. Or without supposing 
it a lake, admit such an extraordinary collection of the waters 
of the atmosphere, and an influx of waters from the Atlantic 
Ocean, forced by long continued Western winds. That lake, 
or that sea, may thus have been so raised as to overflow the 
low lands adjacent to it, as those of Egypt and Armenia, 
which, according to a tradition of the Egyptians and Hebrews, 
were overflowed about 2,300 years before the Christian area : 

* 2. Epoques, 378. f 2. Buifon Epoques, 96. 



32 LIME STONE. 

those of Attica, said to have been overflowed in the time of 
Ogyges, about 500 years later ; and those of Thessalj, in the 
time of Deucalion, still 300 years posterior. * But such delu- 
ges as these will not account for the shells found in the higher 
lands. A second opinion has been entertained, which is, that 
in times anterior to the records, either of history or tradition, 
the bed of the ocean, the principal residence of the shelled 
tribe, has, by some great convulsion of Nature, been heaved to 
the heights at which we now find shells and other remains of 
marine animals. The favorers of this opinion do well to sup- 
pose the great events on which it rests to have taken place be- 
yond all the eras of history ; for within these certainly none 
such are to be found ; and we may venture to say further, that 
no fact has taken place, either in our own days, or in the thou- 
sands of years recorded in history, which proves the existence 
of any natural agents, within or without the bowels of the 
earth, of force sufficient to heave, to the height of 15,000 feet, 
such masses as the Andes. The difference between the power 
necessary to produce such an effect, and that which shuffled to- 
gether the different parts of Calabria in our days, is so im- 
mense, that from the existence of the latter, we are not au- 
thorized to infer that of the former. 

M. de Voltaire has suggested a third solution of this diffi- 
culty. (Quest. Encycl. Coquilles.) He cites an instance in 
Touraine, where, in the space of 80 years, a particular spot of 
earth had been twice metamorphosed into soft stone, which had 
become hard when employed in building. In this stone shells 
of various kinds were produced, discoverable at first only with 
the microscope, but afterwards growing with the stone. From 
this fact, I suppose he would have us infer, that besides the 
usual process for generating shells by the elaboration of earth 
and water in animal vessels. Nature may have provided an equi- 
valent operation by passing the same materials through the 



* Five deluges are eii.umerated by Xenophon, the author of the tract de Equi- 
vocis in these words : " Inundationes plures fuere. Prima novimestris inunda- 
tio terrarum, sub prisco Ogyge. Secunda niliaca menstrua, sub ^gyptiis Hercule 
et Prometheo. Bimestris autem, sub Ogygo Attico in Achaia. Trimestris Thessalica, 
Eub Deucalione. Par Pharonica, sub Proteo Aegyptio in raptu Helena." 



LIME STONE — STONE — EARTHS. 33 

pores of calcareous earths and stones ; as we see calcareous 
drop stones generating every day by tlie percolation of water 
through lime stone, and new marble forming in the quarries 
from which the old has been taken out ; and it might be asked 
whether it is more difficult for Nature to shoot the calcareous 
juice into the form of a shell, than other juices into the forms 
of chrystals, plants, animals, according to the construction of 
the vessels through which they pass ? There is a wonder some- 
where. Is it greatest on this branch of the dilemma ; on that 
which supposes the existence of a power, of which we have no 
evidence in any other case ; or on the first, which requires us 
to believe the creation of a body of water, and its subsequenti 
annihilation ? The establishment of the instance cited by M". 
de Voltaire, of the growth of shells unattached to animal bo- 
dies, would have been that of his theory. But he has not es- 
tablished it. He has not even left it on ground so respectable 
as to have rendered it an object of enquiry to the li^„erati of 
his own country. Abandoning this fact, therefore, the three 
hypotheses are equally unsatisfactory ; and we must be con- 
tented to acknowledge that this great phenomenon is as yet 
unsolved. Ignorance is preferable to error ; and he is less re- 
mote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who be- 
lieves what is wrong. 

There is great abundance (more especially when you ap- 
proach the mountains) of stone, white, blue, brown, &c., fit for 
the chisel, good mill stone, such also as stands the fire, and 
slate stone. We are told of flint, fit for gun flints, on the Me- 
herrin in Brunswic, on the Missisipi between the mouth of Ohio 
and Kaskaskia, and on others of the Western waters. Isin- 
glass or mica is in several places ; load stone also, and an as- 
bestos, of a ligneous texture, is sometimes to be met with. 

Marl abounds generally. A clay, of which, like the stur- 
bridge in England, bricks are made, which will resist long the 
violent action of fire, has been found on Tuckahoe Creek of 
James River, and no doubt will be found in other places. Chalk 
is said to be in, Botetourt and Bedford. In the latter county is 
some earth, believed to be gypseous. Ochres are found in va- 
rious parts. 
3 



34 NITRE — SALT. 

In the lime stone country are many caves, the earthy floors 
of which are impregnated with nitre. On Rich Creek, a branch 
of the Great Kanhaway, about 60 miles below the lead mines, 
is a very large one, about 20 yards wide, and entering a hill a 
quarter or half a mile. The vault is of rock, from 9 to 15 or 
20 feet above the floor. A Mr. Lynch, who gives me this ac- 
count, undertook to extract the nitre. Besides a coat of the 
salt which had formed on the vault and floor, he found the 
earth highly impregnated to the depth of seven feet in some 
places, and generally of three, every bushel yielding on an 
average three pounds of nitre. Mr. Lynch having made about 
1,000 ft) of the salt from it, consigned it to some others, who 
have since made 10,000 ft). They have done this by pursuing 
the cave into the hill, never trying a second time the earth 
they have once exhausted, to see how far or soon it receives 
another impregnation. At least fifty of these caves are work- 
ed on the Greenbriar, There are many of them known on 
Cumberland River. 

The country westward of the Alleghaney abounds with 
springs of common salt. The most remarkable we have heard 
of are at Bullet's Lick, the Big Bones, the Blue Licks, and on 
the North Fork of Holston. The area of Bullet's Lick is of 
many acres. Digging the earth to the depth of three feet, 
the water begins to boil up, and the deeper you go, and the 
dryer the weather, the stronger is the brine. A thousand gal- 
lons of water yield from a bushel to a bushel and a half of salt, 
which is about 80 ft) of water to 1 ft) of salt ; but of sea Ava- 
ter 25 ft) yield 1 ft) of salt. So that sea water is more than 
three times as strong as that of these springs. A Salt Spring 
has been lately discovered at the Turkey Foot on Yohogany, 
by which river it is overflowed, except at very low water. Its 
merit is not yet known. Duning's Lick is also as yet untried, 
but it is supposed to be the best on this side the Ohio. The 
Salt Springs on the margin of the Onondago Lake are said to 
give a saline taste to the waters of the lake. 

There are several Medicinal Springs, some of which are in- 
dubitably efficacious, while others seem to owe their reputation 



MEDICINAL SPRINGS. 35 

as much to fancy and change of air and regimen as to their 
real virtues. None of them having undergone a chemical ana- 
lysis in skilful hands, nor been so far the subject of observa- 
tions as to have produced a reduction into classes of the dis- 
orders which they relieve, it is in my power to give little more 
than an enumeration of them. 

The most efficacious of these are two springs in Augusta, 
near the first sources of James River, where it is called Jack- 
son's River. They rise near the foot of the ridge of moun- 
tains, generally called the Warm Spring Mountain, but in the 
maps Jackson's mountains. The one is distinguished by the 
name of the Warm Spring, and the other of the Hot Spring. 
The Warm Spring issues with a very bold stream, sufficient to 
work a grist mill, and to keep the waters of its bason, which 
is 30 feet in diameter, at the vital warmth, viz: 96° of Faren- 
heit's thermometer. The matter with which these waters is al- 
lied is very volatile ; its smell indicates it to be sulphureous, as 
also does the circumstance of its turning silver black. They 
relieve rheumatisms. Other complaints also of very different 
natures have been removed or lessened by them. It rains here 
four or five days in every week. 

The Hot Spring is about six miles from the Warm, is much 
smaller, and has been so hot as to have boiled an egg. Some 
believe its degree of heat to be lessened. It raises the mer- 
cury in Farenheit's thermometer to 112 degrees, which is fever 
heat. It sometimes relieves where the Warm Spring fails. A 
fountain of common water, issuing within a few inches of its 
margin, gives it a singular appearance. Comparing the tem- 
perature of these with that of the Hot Springs of Kamschatka, 
of which Krachininnikow gives an account, the difference is 
very great, the latter raising the mercury to 200°, which is 
within 12° of boiling water. These springs are very much re- 
sorted to in spite of a total want of accommodation for the 
sick. Their waters are strongest in the hottest months, which 
occasions their being visited in July and August principally. 

The Sweet Springs are in the county of Botetourt, at the 
Eastern foot of the Alleghaney, about 42 miles from the Warm 



36 MEDICINAL SPRINGS — BURNING SPRING. 

Springs. They are still less known. Having been found to 
relieve cases in wliicli the others had been ineffectually tried^ 
it is probable their composition is different. They are different 
also in their temperature, being as cold as common water^ 
which is not mentioned however as a proof of a distinct im- 
pregnation. This is among the first sources of James River. 

On Patowmac River, in Berkeley county, above the North 
Mountain, are Medicinal Springs, much more frequented than 
those of Augusta. Their powers, however, are less, the wa- 
ters weakly mineralized, and scarcely warm. They are more 
visited, because situated in a fertile, plentiful, and populous 
country, better provided with accommodations, always safe 
from the Indians, and nearest to the more populous States. 

In Louisa county, on the head waters of the South Anna 
branch of York River, are springs of some medicinal virtue. 
They are not much used however. There is a weak chalybeate 
at Richmond, and many others in various parts of the coun- 
try, which are of too little worth, or too little note, to be enu- 
merated after those before mentioned. 

We are told of a Sulphur Spring on Howard's Creek of 
Greenbriar, and another at Boonsborough, on Kentuckey. 

In the low grounds of the Great Kanhaway, 7 miles above 
the mouth of Elk River, and 67 above that of the Kanhaway 
itself, is a hole in the earth of the capacity of 30 or 40 gal- 
lons, from which issues constantly a gaseous stream so strong 
as to give to the sand about its orifice the motion which it has 
in a boiling spring. On presenting a lighted candle or torch 
within 18 inches of the hole, it flames up in a column of 18 
inches diameter, and four or five feet height, which sometimes 
burns out within 20 minutes, and at other times has been 
known to continue three days, and then has been left still 
burning. * The flame is unsteady, of the density of that of 
burning spirits, and smells like burning pit coal. Water some- 
times collects in the bason, which is remarkably cold, and is 
kept in ebullition by the gas escaping through it. If the gas 

* 2. Epoques, 138, 139. 



BURNING SPRING. — SYPHON FOUNTAINS. 



37 



be fired in that state, the water soon becomes so warm that the 
hand cannot bear it, and evaporates wholly in a short time. 
This gaseous fluid is probably inflammable air, the hydrogene 
of the new chemistry, which we know will kindle on mixing 
with the oxygenous portion of the atmospheric air, and the ap- 
plication of flame. It may be produced by a decomposition of 
water or of pyrites, within the body of the hill- The circum- 
jacent lands are the property of General Washington and of 
General Levds. 

There is a similar one on Sandy River, the flame of which is 
a column of about 12 inches diameter, and 3 feet high. Gene- 
ral Clarke, Avho informs me of it, kindled the vapor, staid 
about an hour, and left it burning. 

The mention of uncommon springs leads me to that of Sy- 
phon fountains. There is one of these near the intersection of 
the Lord Fairfax's boundary with the North Mountain, not far 
from Brock's Gap, on the stream of which is a grist mill, which 
grinds two bushels of grain at every flood of the spring. An- 
other, near the Cow Pasture River, a mile and a half below its 
confluence with the Bull Pasture River, and 16 or 17 miles 
from the Hot Springs, which intermits once in every twelve 
hours. One also near the mouth of the North Holston. 

We are told that 
during a great storm 
on the 25th of Decem- 
ber, 1798, the Syphon 
Fountain, near the 
mouth of the North 
Holston, ceased, and 
a spring broke out 
about 100 feet higher 
up the hill. * Syphon 
fountains have been 

explained by supposing the duct Avhich leads from the reser- 
voir to the surface of the earth to be in the form of a sy- 
phon, a, h, c, where it is evident that till the water rises in the 




* See Pleasant's Argus, August 16, '99 ; that this disappeared December 25, '98, 
on which day a spring broke out 100 feet higher up the hill. 



38 SYPHON FOUNTAINS — VEGETABLES. 

reservoir to d, the level of tlie highest point of the syphon, 
it cannot flow through the duct, and it is known that when 
once it begins to flow it will draw ofi" the water of the reser- 
voir to the orifice a, of the syphon. If the duct be larger 
than the supply of the reservoir, possibly the force of the wa- 
ters and loosening of the earth by them, during the storm 
above mentioned, may have opened a more direct duct as from 
e to /, horizontally or declining, which issued higher up the hill 
than the one fed by the syphon. In that case it becomes a 
common spring. Should this duct be again closed or di- 
minished by any new accident, the syphon may begin to play 
again, and both springs be kept in action from the same re- 
servoir. 

After these may be mentioned the Natural Well, on the 
lands of a Mr. Lewis in Frederick county. It is somewhat 
larger than a common well ; the water rises in it as near the 
surface of the earth as in the neighboring artificial wells, and 
is of a depth as yet unknown. It is said there is a current in 
it tending sensibly downwards. If this be true, it probably 
feeds some fountain, of which it is the natural reservoir, dis- 
tinguished from others like that of Madison's Cave, by being 
accessible. It is used with a bucket and windlass, as an ordi- 
nary well. 

A complete catalogue of the trees, plants, fruits, &c., is pro- 
bably not desired. I will sketch out those which would princi- 
pally attract notice, as being — 1, Medicinal ; 2, Esculent ; 3, 
Ornamental; or, 4, Useful for fabrication: adding the Lin- 
naean to the popular names, as the latter might not convey 
precise information to a foreigner. I shall confine myself too 
to najtive plants : 

1. Senna — Cassia ligustrina. Arsmart — Polygonum Sagit- 
tatum. Clivers, or goose grass — Galium spurium. Lobelia, of 
several species. Palma Christi — Ricinus. James Town weed 
(3) — Datura Stramonium. Mallow — Malva rotundifolia. Sy- 
rian mallow — Hibiscus moschentos. Hibiscus virginicus. In- 
dian mallow — Sida rhombifolia, Sida abutilon. Virginia 
Marshmallow — Napaea hermaphrodita, Napsea dioica. Indian 



VEaETABLiJi^. 39 

physic — Spiraea trifoliata, Euphorbia Ipecacuanhse. Pleurisy 
root — Asclepias decumbens. Virginia snake root — Aristo- 
locbia serpentaria. Black snake root — Actaea racemosa. Se- 
neca rattlesnake root — Polygala Senega. Valerian — Vale- 
riana locusta radiata. Gentiana, Saponaria, Villosa and Cen- 
taurium. Ginseng — Panax quinquefolium. Angelica — An- 
gelica sylvestris. Cassava — Jatropha urens. 

2. Tuckahoe — Lycoperdon tuber. Jerusalem artichoke — 
Helianthus tuberosus. Long potatoes — Convolvulas bata- 
tas. Granadillas, Maycocks, Maracocks — Passiflora incar- 
nata. Panic — Panicum, of many species. Indian millet — 
Holcus laxus, Holcus striosus. Wild oat — Zizania aqua- 
tica. Wild pea — Dolichos of Clayton. Lupine — Lupinus 
perennis. Wild hop — Humulus lupulus. Wild cherry — 
Prunus Virginiana. Cherokee plum — Prunus sylvestris 
fructu majori. Clayton. Wild plum — Prunus sylvestris 
fructu minori. Clayton. Wild crab apple — Pyrus corona- 
ria. Red mulberry — Morus rubra. Persimmon — Diospy- 
ros Virginiana. Sugar maple — Acer saccharinum. Scaly 
bark hiccory — Juglans alba cortice squamoso. Clayton. 
Common hiccory — Juglans alba, fructu minore rancido. 
Clayton. Paccan, or Illinois nut. Not described by Lin- 
nseus Millar, or Clayton. [Were I to venture to describe 
this, speaking of the fruit from memory, and of the leaf from 
plants of two years growth, I should specify it as the Jug- 
lans alba, foliolis lanceolatis, acuminatis, serratis, tomento- 
sis, fructu minore, ovato, compresso, vix insculpto dulci pu- 
tamine, tenerrimo. It grows on the Illinois, Wabash, Ohio, 
and Missisipi. It is spoken of by Don Ulloa under the name 
of Pacanos, in his Noticias Americanas — Entret. 6.] Black 
walnut — Juglans nigra. White walnut — Juglans alba. Ches- 
nut — Fagus castanea. Chinquapin — Fagus pumila. Hazle- 
nut — Corylus avellana. Grapes — Vitis, various kinds, though 
only three described by Clayton. Scarlet Strawberries — 
Fragaria Virginiana of Millar. Whortleberries — Vaccinium 
uliginosum? Wild gooseberries — Ribes grossularia. Cran- 
berries — Vaccinium oxycoccos. Black raspberries — Rubus 
occidentalis. Blackberries — Rubus fruticosus. Dewberries — 
Rubus csesius. Cloudberries — Robus chamsemorus. 



40 VEGETABLES. 

3. Plane tree — Platanus occidentalis. Poplar — Lirioden- 
dron tulipifera, Populus lieterophylla. Black poplar — Popu- 
liis nigra. Aspen — Populus tremula. Linden, or lime — Tilia 
Americana. Red flowering maple — Acer rubrum. Horse- 
chesnut, or Buck's eye — iEsculus pavia. Catalpa — Bignonia 
catalpa. Umbrella — Magnolia tripetala. Swamp laurel — 
Magnolia glauca. ' Cucumber tree — Magnolia acuminata. Por- 
tugal bay — Laurus indica. Red bay — Laurus borbonia. 
Dwarf rose bay — Rhododendron maximum. Laurel of the 
Western country. Qu. species? Wild pimento — Laurus 
benzoin. Sassafras — Laurus sassafras. Locust — Robinia 
pseudo acacia. Honey locust — Gleditsia. i. jS. Dogwood — 
Cornus florida. Fringe, or snow drop tree — Chionanthus 
Virginica. Barberry — Berberis vulgaris. Red bud, or Ju- 
das tree — Cercis Canadensis. Holly — Ilex aquifolium. 
Cockspur hawthorn — Crataegus coccinea. Spindle tree — 
Euonymus Europoeus. Evergreen spindle tree — Euonymus 
Americanus. Itea Virginica. Elder — Sambucus nigra. Pa- 
pa-vy — Annona triloba. Candleberry myrtle — Myrica ceri- 
fera. Dwarf laurel — Kalmia angustifolia, Kalmia lati- 
folia, called ivy with us. Ivy — Hedera quinquefolia. Trum- 
pet honeysuckle — Lonicera sempervirens. Upright honey- 
suckle — Azalea nudiflora, Azalea viscosa. Yellow jasmine — 
Bignonia sempervirens. Calycanthus floridus. American 
aloe — Agave Virginica. Sumach — Rhus. Qu. species? 
Poke — Phytolacca decandra. Long moss — Tillandsia Us- 
neoides. 

4. Reed — Arundo phragmitis. Virginia hemp — Acnida 
cannabina. Flax — Linum Virginianum. Black, or pitch 
pine — Pinus tseda. White pine — Pinus strobus. Yellow 
pine — Pinus Virginica. Spruce pine — Pinus foliis singula- 
ribus. Clayton. Hemlock spruce fir — Pinus Canadensis. 
Arbor vitse — Thuya occidentalis. Juniper — Juniperus vir- 
ginica (called cedar with us.) Cypress — Cupressus disticha. 
White cedar — Cupressus Thyoides. Black oak — Quercus 
nigra. White oak — Quercus alba. Red oak — Quercus ru- 
bra. Willow oak — Quercus phellos. Chesnut oak — Quer- 
cus prinus. Black jack oak — Quercus aquatica. Clayton. 



VEGETABLES. 41 

Query ? Ground oak — Quercus pumila. Clayton. Live 
oak — Quercus Virginiana. Millar. Black birch — Betula 
nigra. White birch — Betula alba. Beach — Fagus sylvatica. 
Ash — Fraxinus Americana, Fraxinus Noveb Anglise. 3Til- 
lar. Elm — Ulmus Americana. "Willow — Salix. Query, spe- 
cies ? Fluvialis. Bartr. 393. Sweet Gum — Liquidambar sty- 
raciflua. 

The following were found in Virginia when first visited by 
the English ; but it is not said whether of spontaneous growth, 
or by cultivation only. Most probably they were natives of 
more Southern climates, and handed along the continent from 
one nation to another of the savages : 

Tobacco — ^Nicotiana. * Maize — Zea mays, f Round po- 

* Qu. If known in Europe before the discovery of America? Ramusic supposes 
this to be the grain described by Diod. Sic. L. 2, in his account of the travels of 
lambulus, in the following passage: "<^vsff0at ydp Ttap' av-toli xkXafj^ov rtoXvv, 
^spoi'T'a xapftov Sa^tJ^rjy iiapsixfsprj t'oc'j %tvxoii opo/Jotj. [Ceci bianchi. — Ital. 
Ers. Franc] ToiJt'oj' ovv (rwayaydj''r'£j {ifsixovaiv sv vSati ^sp^ttw, fiixp^'i «■«' "io 
(lEysOos i';twff"' "5 '*>°v ?t£pKJT'«paj. trtei'ta avv6>.asav'tss xai ipt-^aviss £fi.7ts- 
t'pcoj ■tats X^P^^h SiartXoT'T'oiKJH' apT'orj. ovj ortT'ijrfavr'fj ootovvtai, Sta^jopovs 
ovfas f^ yXvxvfr ■(<,." Kamusic says of the Maize "in Italia, a i tempi nostri, 
[1550,] gstato, veduto 'laprimavolta,' and the island in which it was found by lambu- 
lus was Sumatra. — 1. Ramus. 174. The Maison rustique says that Turkey Corn came 
first from the West Indies into Turkey, and from thence into France." — L. 5, c. 17. 
Zimmerman says : "II tire son origine des pays chauds de I'Amerique." — Zoologie 
geographique, page 24. " II frumentone fu dalla America in Ispagne, e quindi in 
altri paesi della Europa." " Dalli Spagnuoli di Europa e di America e chiamato il 
frumentone col nome Maiz, preso dalla lingua Haitina che si parlava nella isola og- 
gidi appellata Spagnuola, o sia di S. Domenico." — Clavigero I., 56. " II frumentone, 
biada dalla providenza accordata a quella parte del mondo in vece del frumento dell 
Europa, del riso del Asia, e del miglio d' Africa." — 2. Clavig. 218. Acosta classes 
Indian Corn with the plants peculiar to America, observing that it is called "trigo 
de las Indias" in Spain, and " Grano de Turquia" in Italy. He says, " De donde 
fue el Mayz a Indias, y porque este grano tan provechoso le llaman en Italia Grano 
de Turquia mejor sabre preguntarlo, que dezirlo. Porque en efecto en los antiques 
no hallo rastro deste genero, aunque el Milio que Plinio escrive aver venido a Italia 
de la India diez aSos avia, quando escrivio, tiene alguna similitud con el Mayz, en 
lo que dize que es grano, y que nace en caSa, y se cubre de hoja, y que tiene al 
remate como cabellos, y el ser fertilissimo, todo lo qual no quadra con el Mijo, que 
comunmente entienden por Milio, en fin, repartio el Criador a todas partes su 
gobierno : a este orbe dio el triga que es el principal sustento de los h ombres : 
a aquel de Indias dio el Mayz, que tras el trigo tiene el segundo lugar, para sus- 
tenta de hombres, y animales. — Acosta 4, 16. 

j- " Les pommes de terre sont indigenes en Guiane." — Zimmerman Zool. Geogr. 26. 
"La Papa fu portata in Messico dall' America Meridionale, suo proprio paese." — 1. 
Clavigero 58. 



42 VEGETABLES — ANIMALS. 

tatoes — Solanum tuberosum. Pumpkins — Cucurbita pepo. 
Cymlings — Cucurbita verrucosa. Squashes — Cucurbita me- 
lopepo. 

There is an infinitude of other plants and flowers, for an 
enumeration and scientific description of which I must refer to 
the Flora Virginica of our great botanist, Dr. Clayton, pub- 
lished by Gronovius at Leyden, in 1762. This accurate ob- 
server was a native and resident of this State, passed a long 
life in exploring and describing its plants, and is supposed to 
have enlarged the botanical catalogue as much as almost any 
man who has lived. 

Besides these plants, which are native, our fa7'ms produce 
wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and broom corn. The 
climate suits rice well enough wherever the lands do. To- 
bacco, hemp, flax, and cotton, are staple commodities. Indico 
yields two cuttings. The silk worm is a native, and the mul- 
berry, proper for its food, grows kindly. 

We cultivate also potatoes, both the long and the round, 
turnips, carrots, parsneps, pumpkins, and ground nuts, (Ara- 
chis.) Our grasses are Lucerne, St. Foin, Burnet, Timothy, 
ray, and orchard grass ; red, white, and yellow clover ; 
greensward, blue grass, and crab grass. 

The gardens yield musk melons, water melons, tomatoes, 
ochre, pomegranates, figs, and the esculent plants of Europe. 

The orchards produce apples, pears, cherries, quinces, 
peaches, nectarines, apricots, almonds, and plums. 

Our quadrupeds have been mostly described by Linnaeus and 
Mons. de Bufibn. Of these the mammoth, or big bufialo, as 
called by the Indians, must certainly have been the largest. 
Their tradition is, that he was carnivorous, and still exists in 
the Northern parts of America. A delegation of warriors 
from the Delaware tribe having visited the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, during the present revolution, on matters of business, 
after these had been discussed and settled in council, the Go- 
vernor asked them some questions relative to their country, 
and, among others, what they knew or had heard of the ani- 
mal whose bones were found at the Saltlicks, on the Ohio. 



ANIMALS. 43 

Their chief speaker immediately put himself into an attitude 
of oratory, and with a pomp suited to what he conceived the 
elevation of his subject, informed him that it was a tradition 
handed down from their fathers : " That in ancient times a 
herd of these tremendous animals came to the Big Bone Licks, 
and began an universal destruction of the bear, deer, elks, 
buffaloes, and other animals, which had been created for the 
use of the Indians ; that the Great Man above, looking down 
and seeing this, was so enraged that he seized his lightning, 
descended on the earth, seated himself on a neighboring 
mountain, on a rock, of which his seat and the print of his 
feet are still to be seen, and hurled his bolts among them till 
the whole were slaughtered, except the big bull, who, present- 
ing his forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they fell; 
but missing one at length, it wounded him in the side ; where- 
on, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, over the Wa- 
bash, the Illinois, and finally over the great lakes, where he is 
living at this day." It is well known that on the Ohio, and in 
many parts of America further North, tusks, grinders, and 
skeletons of unparalleled magnitude, are found in great num- 
bers, some lying on the surface of the earth, and some a little 
below it. A Mr. Stanley, taken prisoner by the Indians near 
the mouth of the Tanissee, relates that, after being transfer- 
red through several tribes, from one to another, he was at 
length carried over the mountains West of the Missouri to a 
river which runs westwardly ; that these bones abounded there ; 
and that the natives described to him the animal to which they 
belonged as still existing in the Northern parts of their coun- 
try ; from which description he judged it to be an elephant. 
Bones of the same kind have been lately found some feet be- 
low the surface of the earth, in salines opened on the North 
Holston, a branch of the Tanissee, about the latitude of 36|° 
North. From the accounts published in Europe, I suppose it 
to be decided that these are of the same kind with those found 
in Siberia. * Instances are mentioned of like animal remains 

* Clavigero says : "Non mi sovviene che appo qualche nazione Americana visia 
memoria o degli elafanti, o degl ippopotami, o d' altri quadruped! di si fatta gran- 
dezza. Non so che fin ora, fra tanti scavamenti fatta nella Nuova Spagna, siasi mai 
scoperto un carcamo d' Ippopotamo, e quel cli' e piu, ne anche un dente d' elefante. — 
125. 



44 ANIMALS. 

found in the more Southern climates of both hemispheres ; * hut 
they are either so loosely mentioned as to leave a doubt of the 
fact, so inaccurately described as not to authorize the classing 
them with the great Northern bones, or so rare as to found a 
suspicion that they have [,been carried]^ thither as curiosities 
from more Northern regions. So that on the whole there 
seem to be no certain vestiges of the existence of this animal 
further South than the salines last mentioned, f It is remark- 
able that the tusks and skeletons have been ascribed by the 
naturalists of Europe to the elephant, while the grinders have 
been given to ^the hippopotamus, or river horse. | Yet it is 
acknowledged that the tusks and skeletons are much larger 
than those of the elephant, and the grinders many times 
greater than those of the hippopqtamus, and essentially dif- 
ferent in form. Wherever these grinders are found, there also 
we find the tusks and skeleton ; but no skeleton of the hippo- 
potamus nor grinders of the elephant. It will not be said that 
the hippopotamus and elephant came always to the same spot, 
the former to deposit his grinders, and the latter his tusks and 
skeleton. For what became of the parts not deposited there ? 
We must agree then that these remains belong to each other, 
that they are of one and the same animal, that this was 
not a hippopotamus, because the hippopotamus had no tusks 
nor such a frame, and because the grinders difi'er in their size 
as well as in the number and form of their points. That it 
was not an elephant, I think ascertained by proofs equally 
decisive. I will not avail myself of the authority of the cele- 
brated § anatomist, who, from an examination of the form and 
structure of the tusks, has declared they were essentially 
different from those of the elephant, because another || anato- 
mist, equally celebrated, has declared, on a like examination, 
that they are precisely the same. Between two such authori- 

* 2. Epoques, 276, in Mexico ; but, 1. Epoques, 250, denies the fact as to S. America. 

t22. Buflfon, 233; 2. Epoques, 230. 

X 2. Epoques, 232. BufiFon pronounces it is not the grinder either of the elephant 
or hippopotamus, mais d' une espece la premiere et la plus graude de tous les ani- 
maux terrestres, qui est perdue. 

2 Hunter. I| D'Aubenton. 



ANIMALS. 45 

ties I will suppose this circumstance equivocal. But, 1, The 
skeleton of the mammoth (for so the incognitum has been 
called) bespeaks an animal of six times the cubic volume of 
the elephant, as Mons. de Buffon has admitted.* 2, The 
grinders are five times as large, are square, and the grinding 
surface studded with four or five rows of blunt points : whereas 
those of the elephant are broad and thin, and their grinding 
surface flat. I 3, I have never heard an instance, and sup- 
pose there has been none, of the grinder of an elephant being 
found in America. 4, From the known temperature and con- 
stitution of the elephant he could never have existed in those 
regions where the remains of the mammoth have been found. 
The elephant is a native only of the torrid zone and its \ici- 
nities: if with the assistance of warm apartments and warm 
clothing he has been preserved in life in the temperate climates 
of Europe, it has only been for a small portion of what would 
have been his natural period, and no instance of his multipli- 
cation in them has ever been known. But no bones of the 
mammoth, as I have before observed, have been ever found 
further South than the salines of the Holston, and they have 
been found as far North as the Arctic circle. Those, therefore, 
who are of opinion that the elephant and mammoth are the 
same, must believe, 1, That the elephant known to us can exist 
and multiply in the frozen zone ; or, 2, That an internal fire 
may once have Avarmed those regions, and since abandoned 
them, of which, however, the globe exhibits no unequivocal in- 
dications ; or, 3, That the obliquity of the ecliptic, when these 
elephants lived, was so great as to include within the tropics all 
those regions in which the bones are found ; the tropics being 
as is before observed, the natural limits of habitation for the 
elephant. M. de Bufibn considers the existence of elephant 
bones in Northern regions, where the animal itself is no longer 
found, as one of the leading facts which support his theory, that 
the earth was once in a liquid state, rendered so by the action of 
fire, that the process of cooling began at its poles, and pro- 

* Xviii. 178 J xxii. 121. f Qu? See 2. Epoques de Buffon, 231, 234. 



46 ANIMALS. 

ceedecl gradually towards the torrid zone, that with this pro- 
gress the animals of warm temperature retired towards the 
equator, and that in the present state of that progress the 
globe remains of sufficient warmth, for the elephant for in- 
stance, in the tropical regions, only to which therefore they 
have retired, as their last asylum, and where they must become 
extinct when the degree of warmth shall be reduced below that 
adapted to their constitution. How does it happen then that 
no elephants exist at present in the tropical regions of America, 
to which those of the Ohio must have retired, according to this 
theory ? But if it be admitted that this obliquity has really 
decreased, and we adopt the highest rate of decrease yet pre- 
tended, that is, of one minute in a century, to transfer the 
Northern tropic to the Arctic circle, would carry the existence 
of these supposed elephants 250,000 years back ; a period far 
beyond our conception of the duration of animal bones left 
exposed to the open air, as [these are in many instances. Be- 
sides, though these regions would then be supposed within the 
tropics, yet their winters would have been too severe for the 
sensibility of the elephant. They would have had too but one 
day and one night in the year, a cii'cumstance to which we have 
no reason to suppose the nature of the elephant fitted. How- 
ever, it has been demonstrated, that if a variation of obliquity 
in the ecliptic takes place at all, it is vibratory, and never ex- 
ceeds the limits of 9 degrees, which is not sufficient to bring 
these bones within the tropics. One of these hypotheses, or 
some other equally voluntary and inadmissible to cautious phi- 
losophy, must be adopted to support the opinion that these are 
the bones of the elephant. For my own part, I find it easier 
to believe that an animal may have existed, resembling the ele- 
phant in his tusks and general anatomy, while his nature was 
in other respects extremely different. From the 30th degree 
of South latitude to the 30th of North, are nearly the limits 
which Nature has fixed for the existence and multiplication of 
the elephant known to us. Proceeding thence northwardly to 
36| degrees, we enter those assigned to the mammoth. The 
further we advance North, the more their vestiges multiply as 



ANIMALS. 47 

far as the earth has been explored in that direction ; and it is 
as probable as otherwise, that this progression continues to the 
pole itself, if land extends so far. The centre of the frozen 
zone then may be the acmd of their vigor, as that of the tor- 
rid is of the elephant. Thus Nature seems to have drawn a 
belt of separation between these two tremendous animals, 
whose breadth, indeed, is not precisely known, though at pre- 
sent we may suppose it about 6^ degrees of latitude ; to have 
assigned to the elephant the regions South of these confines, 
and those North to the mammoth, founding the constitution of 
the one in her extreme of heat, and that of the other in the 
extreme of cold. When the Creator has therefore separated 
their nature as far as the extent of the scale of animal life al- 
lowed to this planet would permit, it seems perverse to declare 
it the same, from a partial resemblance of their tusks and 
bones. But to whatever animal we ascribe these remains, it 
is certain such a one has existed in America, and that it has 
been the largest of all terrestrial beings. It should have suf- 
ficed to have rescued the earth it inhabited, and the atmos- 
phere it breathed, from the imputation of impotence in the 
conception and nourishment of animal life on a large scale : to 
have stifled in its birth the opinion of a writer, the most learn- 
ed too of all others in the science of animal history, that in 
the new world, "La nature vivante est beaucoup moins agis- 
sante, beaucoup moins forte:" that Nature is less active, less 
energetic on one side of the globe than she is on the other. * 
As if both sides were not warmed by the same genial sun ; as 
if a soil of the same chemical composition was less capable of 
elaboration into animal nutriment ; as if the fruits and grains 
from that soil and sun yielded a less rich chyle, gave less ex- 
tension to the solids and fluids of the body, or produced sooner 
in the cartilages, membranes, and fibres, that rigidity which 
restrains all further extension, and terminates animal growth. 
The truth is, that a pigmy and a Patagonian, a mouse and a 
mammoth, derive their dimensions from the same nutritive 
juices. The difierence of increment depends on circumstances 

» Buffon, xviii. 122 ; Ed. Paris, 1764. 



48 ANIMALS. 

unsearchable to beings with our capacities. Every race of 
animals seems to have received from their Maker certain laws 
of extension at the time of their formation. Their elabo- 
rative organs were formed to produce this, while proper 
obstacles were opposed to its further progress. Below these 
limits they cannot fall, nor rise above them. What interme- 
diate station they shall take may depend on soil, on climate, 
on food, on a careful choice of breeders. But all the manna 
of heaven would never raise the mouse to the bulk of the 
mammoth. 

The opinion advanced by the Count de BufFon * is, 1, That the 
animals, common both to the old and new world, are smaller 
in the latter. 2, That those peculiar to the new are on a 
smaller scale. 3, That those which have been domesticated 
in both, have degenerated in America ; and, 4, That on the 
Avhole it exhibits fewer species. And the reason he thinks is, 
that the heats of America are less; that more waters are 
spread over its surface by Nature, and fewer of these drained 
off by the hand of man. In other words, that heat is friendly, 
and moisture adverse to the production and development of 
large quadrupeds. I will not meet this hypothesis on its first 
doubtful ground, Avhether the climate of America be compara- 
tively more humid ? Because we are not furnished with ob- 
servations sufficient to decide this question. And though, till 
it be decided, we are as free to deny, as others are to affirm 
the fact, yet for a moment let it be supposed. The hypo- 
thesis, after this supposition, proceeds to another ; that moist- 
ure is unfriendly to animal growth. The truth of this is in- 
scrutable to us by reasonings a priori. Nature has hidden 
from us her modus agendi. Our only appeal on such ques- 
tions is to experience ; and I think that experience is against 
the supposition. It is by the assistance of heat and moisture 



* Xviii. 100, 156. " La terre est demeuree froide, impuissante a produire les prin- 
cipes actife, a developer les germes des plus grands quadrupedes, auxqueb il faut, 
pour croitre et se multiplier, toute la chaleur, toute ractivitS que le soleil peut 
donner a la terre, amoureuse." — Xviii. 156. "L'ardeur des hommes et la grandeur 
des animaus dependent de la salubrite et de la chaleur de I'air. — lb. 160. 



ANIMALS. 49 

that vegetables are elaborated from the elements of earth, air, 
water, and fire. We accordingly see the more humid climates 
produce the greater quantity of vegetables. Vegetables are 
mediately or immediately the food of every animal; and in 
proportion to the quantity of food, we see animals not only 
multiplied in their numbers, but improved in their bulk, as 
far as the laws of their nature will admit. Of this opinion is 
the Count de BuflFon himself in another part of his work : * 
"En general il paroit que les pays un peu f voids conviennent 
mieux h nos boeufs que les pays chauds, et qu'ils sont d'autant 
plus gros et plus grands que le climat est plus humide et plus 
abondans en paturages. Les boeufs de Danemarck, de la Po- 
dolie, de I'lJkraine et de la Tartaric qu'habitent les Cal- 
mouques sont les plus grands de tons.' f Here then a race of 
animals, and one of the largest too, has been increased in its 
dimensions by cold and moisture, in direct opposition to the 
hypothesis, which supposes that these two circumstances di- 
minish animal bulk, and that it is their contraries, heat and 
dryness, which enlarge it. But when we appeal to experience, 
we are not to rest satisfied with a single fact. Let us there- 
fore try our question on more general ground. Let us take 
two portions of the earth, Europe and America for instance, 
sufficiently extensive to give operation to general causes ; let 
us consider the circumstances peculiar to each, and observe 
their efiect on animal nature. America, running through the 
torrid as well as temperate zone, has more heat, collectively 
taken, than Europe. But Europe, according to our hypothe- 
sis, is the dryest. They are equally adapted then to animal 
productions, each being endowed with one of those causes 
which befriend animal growth, and with one which opposes it. 
If it be thought unequal to compare Europe with America, 
which is so much larger, I answer, not more so than to com- 
pare America with the whole world. Besides, the purpose of 
the comparison is to try an hypothesis, which makes the size 

»Viii. 134. 

f " Tout ce qu' il y a de colossal et de grand dans la nature, a ete forme dans les 
terres du Nord." 1. Epoques 255. " C'est dans les regions de notre Nord que la 
nature vivante s'est clevee a sea plus grandes dimensions. — lb. 263. 

4 



50 ANIMALS. 

of animals depend on tlie heat and moisture of climate. If 
therefore we take a region, so extensive as to comprehend a 
sensible distinction of climate, and so extensive too as that 
local accidents, or the intercourse of animals on its borders, 
may not materially affect the size of those in its interior parts, 
we shall comply with those conditions which the hypothesis 
may reasonably demand. The objection would be the weaker 
in the present case, because any intercourse of animals which 
may take place on the confines of Europe and Asia, is to the 
advantage of the former, Asia producing certainly larger ani- 
mals than Europe. Let us then take a comparative view of 
the quadrupeds of Europe and America, presenting them to 
the eye in three different tables, in one of which shall be enu- 
merated those found in both countries; in a second those 
found in one only ; in a third those which have been domes- 
ticated in both. To facilitate the comparison, let those of 
each table be arranged in gradation according to their sizes, 
from the greatest to the smallest, so far as their sizes can be 
conjectured. The weights of the large animals shall be ex- 
pressed in the English avoirdupoise pound and its decimals ; 
those of the smaller in the ounce and its decimals. Those 
which are marked thus, * are actual weights of particular 
subjects, deemed among the largest of their species. Those 
marked thus f, are furnished by judicious persons, well ac- 
quainted with the species, and saying, from conjecture only, 
what the largest individual they had seen would probably have 
weighed. The other weights are taken from Messrs. Buffon 
and D'Aubenton, and are of such subjects as came casually to 
their hands for dissection. This circumstance must be re- 
membered where their weights and mine stand opposed ; the 
latter being stated, not to produce a conclusion in favor of 
the American species, but to justify a suspension of opinion 
until we are better informed, and a suspicion in the mean time 
that there is no uniform difference in favor of either, which 
is all I pretend. 



ANIMALS. 



51 



A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE QUADRUPEDS OF EUROPE AND 
OF AMERICA. 

I. ABORIGINALS OF BOTH. 





Europe. 


America 




tt). 


ft. 


Mammotli. 






Buffalo — ;Bison, 




*180« 


White bear — Ours blanc. 






Caribou — Renne. 






Bear — Ours, 


153.7 


*410 


Elk — Elan. Orignal, raoose palmated. 






Red deer — Cerf, 


288.8 


*273 


Fallow deer — Daim, 


167.8 




Wolf — Loup, 


69.8 




Roe — Chevreuil, 


56.7 




Glutton — Glouton. Carcajou. 






Wild cat — Chat sauvage, . 




fSd 


Lynx — Loup cervier, 


25. 




Beaver — Castor, 


18.5 


*45 


Badger — Blaireau, 


13.6 




Red fox — Renard, 


13.5 




Grey fox — Isatis. 






Otter — Loutre, 


8.9 


tl2 


Monax — Marmotte, 


6.5 




Vison — Fouine, 


2.8 




Hedgehog — Herisson, 


2.2 




Martin — Marte, 


1.9 


t6 


Water rat — Rat d'eau, 


oz. 

7.5 




Wesel — Belette, 


2.2 




Flying squirrel — Polatouche, 


2.2 


oz. 

t4 


Shrew mouse — Musaraigne, 


1. 





52 



ANIMALS. 



11. ABORIGINALS OF ONE ONLY. 



EUIIOPE. 


ft). 


America. 


ft). 


Sanglier — Wild boar, 


280. 


Tapir, 


534. 


Mouflon — Wild sheep, 


56. 


Elk, round horned. 


t450. 


Bouquetin — Wild goat. 




Puma. 




* Lievre — Hare, 


7.6 


Jaguar, • 


218. 


Lapin — Rabbit, 


3.4 


Cabiai, 


109. 


Putois — Polecat, 


3.3 


Tamanoir, 


109. 


Genette, 


3.1 


Tamandua, 


65.4 


Desman — Muskrat . 




Cougar of N. Amer. 


75. 




oz. 


Cougar of S. Amer. 


59.4 


Ecureuil — Squirrel, 


12. 


Ocelot. 




Hermine — Ermin, 


8.2 


Pecari, 


46.3 


Rat — Rat, 


7.5 


Jaguaret, 


43.6 


Loirs, 


3.1 


Alco. 




Lerot — Dormouse, 


1.8 


Lama. 




Taupe — Mole, 


1.2 


Paco. 




Hamster, 


.9 


Paca, 


32.7 


Zisel. 




Serval. 




Leming. 




Sloth — Unau, 


27^ 


Souris — Mouse, 


.6 


Saricovienne. 
Kincajou. 








Tatou Kabassou, 


21.8 


/ 




Urson — Urchin. 








Raccoon — Raton, 


16.5 






Coati. 








Coendou, 


16.3 






Sloth— Ai 


13. 






Sapajou Ouarini. 








Sapajou Coaita, 


9.8 


#■ 




Tatou Encubert. 
Tatou Apar. 








Tatou Cachica, 


7. 






Little Coendou, 


6.5 






Opossum — Sarigue. 








Tapeti, 








Margay. 








Crabier. 





* There exists in the Western and mountainous parts of Pepnsylvania an animal 
which seems to be nearer the hare than our whabus. The meat is black, and an 
individual weighed 39J oz. avoird., while the whabus is an animal of white meat, 
and weighs about 29 oz. ; the fur of the former la white, as is the case with most 
animals in countries abounding with snow. 



ANIMALS. 



sn 



II. TABLE— Continued. 



Europe. 



ft). 



America. 


ft. 


Agouti, 


4.2 


Sapajou Sai, 
Tatou Cirquingon. 
Tatou Tatouate, 


3.5 

3.3 


Mouffette Squash. 
Mouffette Chinche. 




Mouffette Conepate — 
Scunk. 




Mouffette Zorilla. 




Whabus — Hare, Rabbit. 

Aperea. 

Akouchi. 




Ondatra — Muskr at . 




Pilori. 




Great grey squirrel, 
Fox squirrel of Virginia. 
Surikate, 


t2.7 
t2.62; 
2. 


Mink, 


t2. 


Sapajou — Sajou, 
Indian pig — Cochon d' 


1.8 


Inde, 


1.6 


Sapajou — Saimiri, 
Phalanger. 


1.5 


Coquallin, 

Lesser grey squirrel. 
Black squirrel. 
Red squirrel, 
Sagoin Saki. 


tl.5 
tl.5 
10 oz. 


Sagoin Pinche. 




Sagoin Tamarin. 






oz. 


Sagoin Ouistiti, 


4.4 


Sagoin Marikine. 




Sagoin Mico. 




Cayopollin. 
Fourmillier. 




Marmose. 




Sarigue of Cayenne. 
Tucan. 




Red mole. 




Ground squirrel. 


4. 



54 ANIMALS. 



III. DOMESTICATED IN BOTH. 





Europe. 


America. 




ft. 


ft. 


Cow, 


763. 


* 2500 


Horse, 




*1366 


Ass. 






Hog, 




* 1200 


Sheep, 




*125 


Goat, 




*80 


Dog, 


67.6 




Cat, 


7. 





I have not inserted in the first table the * phoca nor leather- 
winged bat, because the one living half the year in the water, 
and the other being a winged animal, the individuals of each 
species may visit both continents. 

Of the animals in the first table, Mons. de Buffon himself 
informs us, f that the roe, the beaver, the otter, and shrew 
mouse, though of the same species, are larger in America than 
Europe. This should therefore have corrected the generality of 
his expressions ; | and elsewhere, that the animals common to 
the two countries, are considerably less in America than in 
Europe: "& cela sans aucune exception." He tells us too, § 
that on examining a bear from America, he remarked no dif- 
ference : " Dans la forme de cet ours d' Amerique compart a 
celui d' Europe." But adds from Bartram's journal, that an 
American bear weighed 400 ft English, equal to 367 ft 
French ; whereas we find the European bear, examined by 
Mons. D'Aubenton, || weighed but 141 ft French. Kalm tells 
us that the moose, orignal, or palmated elk of America, is as 

* It is said that this animal is seldom seen above 30 miles from shore, or beyond 
the 56th degree of latitude. The interjacent islands between Asia and America ad- 
mit his passing from one continent to the other without exceeding these bounds. 
.\nd, in fact, travelers tell us that these islands are places of principal resort for 
them, and especially in the season of bringing forth their young. 

t Xxvii. 130 ; xxx. 213 ; 5. Sup. 201.' % xviii. 145. 

l Quadrup. viiii. 334 ; edit. Paris, 1777. || xvii. 82. 



ANIMALS. 55 

high as a tall horse ; and Catesby, that it is about the bigness 
of a middle-sized ox. * I have seen a skeleton 7 feet high, 
and from good information believe they are often considerably 
higher. The Elk of Europe is not two-thirds of his height. 
The wesel is larger in America than in Europe, as may be 
seen by comparing its dimensions as reported by Mons. D' 
Aubenton and Kalm. f The latter tells us that the lynx, bad- 
ger, red fox, and flying .squirrel, are the same in America as 
in Europe ; by which expression I understand they are the 
same in all material circumstances, in size as well as others ; 
for if they were smaller, they would differ from the Euro- 
pean. I Our grey fox is, by Catesby's account, little different 
in size and shape from the European fox. § I presume he 
means the red fox of Europe, as does Kalm, where he says, || 
that in size "they do not quite come up to our foxes." For 
proceeding next to the red fox of America, he says " they are 
entirely the same with the European sort;" which shews he 
had in view one European sort only, which was the red. So 
that the result of their testimony is, that the American grey 
fox is somewhat less than the European red ; which is equally 
true of the grey fox of Europe, as may be seen by comparing 
the measures of the Count de Buffon and Mons. D'Auben- 
ton. ^ The white bear of America is as large as that of Eu- 
rope. The bones of the mammoth, which have been found i)i 
America, are as large as those found in the old world. It 
may be asked, why I insert the mammoth, as if it still exist- 
ed ? I ask in return why I should omit it, as if it did not 
exist ? Such is the economy of Nature, that no instance can 
be produced of her having permitted any one race of her 
animals to become extinct ; of her having formed any link in 
her great work so weak as to be broken. To add to this, 
the traditionary testimony of the Indians, that this animal 

* This sentence in the first edition began as follows: "Kalm tells hs that the 
Black Moose or Renne of America is as high as a tall horse," &c. The author cor- 
rected it as in the text, appending a marginal note in these words : " This is not 
correct. Kalm considers the Moose as the Elk, and not as the Renne. Musu is the 
Algonkin name of the Orignal, or Elk. — I. xxvii." 

fXv. 42. J I. 359. 1.48,221,251. 11.52. gIL 78. ||I. 220. 

5 XxTii. 63.; xiv. 119. Harris, II. 387. BufTon, Quad, ix., 1. 



5S ANIMALS. 

still exists in the Northern and Western parts of America^ 
vould be adding the light of a taper to that of the meridian 
sun. Those parts still remain in their aboriginal state, un- 
explored and undisturbed by us, or by others for us. He may 
as well exist there now, as he did formerly, where we find his 
bones. If he be a carnivorous animal, as some anatomists 
have conjectured, and the Indians affirm, his early retirement 
may be accounted for from the general destruction of the wild 
game by the Indians, which commences in the first instant of 
their connection with us, for the purpose of purchasing match- 
coats, hatchets, and fire locks, with their skins. There remain 
then the renne, the bufialo, red deer, fallow deer, wolf, 
glutton, wild cat, monax, vison, hedgehog, martin, and water 
rat, of the comparative sizes of which we have not sufficient 
testimony. It does not appear that Messrs. de Bufibn and D' 
Aubenton have measured, weighed, or seen those of America. 
It is said of some of them, by some travelers, that they are 
smaller than the European. But who were these travelers ? 
Have they not been men of a very diflferent description from 
those who have laid open to us the other three quarters of the 
world ? Was natural history the object of their travels ? Did 
they measure or weigh the animals they speak of? or did they 
not judge of them by sight, or perhaps even from report only ? 
Were they acquainted with the animals of their own country, 
with which they undertake to compare them ? Have they not 
been so ignorant as often to mistake the species ? * A true 
answer to these questions would probably lighten their autho- 
rity, so as to render it insufficient for the foundation of an 
hypothesis. How unripe we yet are, for an accurate compa- 
rison of the animals of the two countries, will appear from the 
work of Mons. de Buffon. The ideas we should have formed 
of the sizes of some animals, from the information he had re- 
ceived at his first publications concerning them, are very dif- 
ferent from what his subsequent communications give us. 
And indeed his candor in this can never be too much praised. 
One sentence of his book must do him immortal honor. 

•■•• Even Amer. Vesp. says he saw lions and wild boars in America. — Letters, page 
77. He saw a serpent 8 braccie long, and as thick as his own waist — 111. 



ANIMALS. 5T 

" J' aime autant une personne qui me releve d' une erreur, 
qu'une autre qui m' apprend une verity, parce qu'en effet une 
erreur corrigde est une verity." * He seems to have thought 
the Cabiai he first examined wanted little of its full growth. 
" II n'etoit pas encore tout-a-fait adulte. " f Yet he weighed 
but 46| ft), and he found afterwards that these animals, when 
full grown, weigh 100 ft). | He had supposed, from the exam- 
ination of a jaguar, said to be two years old, which weighed 
but 16 ft) 12 oz., that, when he should have acquired his full 
growth, he would not be larger than a middle-sized dog. § 
But a subsequent account raises his weight to 200 lb. || Fur- 
ther information will, doubtless, produce further corrections. 
The wonder is, not that there is yet something in this great 
work to correct, but that there is so little. The result of this 
view then is, that of 26 quadrupeds common to both countries, 
7 are said to be larger in America, 7 of equal size, and 12 not 
sufficiently examined. So that the first table impeaches the 
first member of the assertion, that of the animals common to 
both countries, the American are smallest: "Et cela sans 
aucune exception." It shews it not just, in all the lati- 
tude in which its author has advanced it, and probably not 
to such a degree as to found a distinction between the two 
countries. 

Proceeding to the second table, which arranges the animals 
found in one of the two countries only, Mons. de Bufibn 
observes that the tapir, the elephant of America, is but of the 
size of a small cow. To preserve our comparison, I will add 
that the wild boar, the elephant of Europe, is little more than 
half that size. I have made an elk, with round or cylindrical 
horns, an animal of America, and peculiar to it, because I have 
seen many of them myself, and more of their horns ; and 
because I can say from the best information, that in Virginia 
this kind of elk has abounded much, and still exists in smaller 
numbers ; the palmated kind is confined to the more Northern 

* Quad. ix. 158. f xxv. 184. J Quad. ix. 132. g xix. 2, 

D Quad. ix. 41. 



58 ANIMALS. 

latitudes. * I have made our hare or rabbit peculiar, believing 
it to be different from both the European animals of those 
denominations, and calling it therefore by its Algonquin name 
Whabus, to keep it distinct from these, f Kalm is of the same 
opinion. I have enumerated the squirrels according to our 
own knowledge, derived from daily sight of them, because I 
am not able to reconcile with that the European appellations 
and descriptions. I have heard of other species, but they 



* The descriptions of Theodat, Denys, and La Hontan, cited by Mons. de Buffon, 
under the article Elan, authorize the supposition, that the flat-horned elk is found in 
the Northern parts of America. It has not however extended to our latitudes. On 
the other hand, I could never learn that the round-horned elk has been seen fur- 
ther North than the Hudson's River. This agrees with the former elk in its general 
character, being, like that, when compared with a deer, very much larger, its ears 
longer, broader, and thicker in proportion, its hair much longer, neck and tail 
shorter, having a dewlap before the breast, (caruncula gutturalis Linngei,) a white 
spot often, if not always, of a foot diameter, on the hinder part of the buttocks 
round the tail; its gait a trot, and attended with a rattling of the hoofs; but dis- 
tinguished from that decisively by its horns, which are not palmated, but round and 
pointed. This is the animal described by Catesby as the Cervus major Ameri- 
canus, the Stag of America, le Cerf de 1' Amerique. But it differs from the Cervus 
as totally as does the palmated elk from the dama. And in fact it seems to stand 
in the same relation to the palmated elk as the red deer does to the fallow. It 
has abounded in Virginia, has been seen, within my knowledge, on the Eastern side 
of the Blue Ridge since the year 1765, is now common beyond those mountains, has 
been often brought to us and tamed, and their horns are in the hands of many. I 
should designate it as the "Alces Americanus cornibus teretibus." It were to be 
wished that naturalists, who are acquainted with the renne and elk of Europe, and 
who may hereafter visit the Northern parts of America, would examine well the 
animals called there by the names of grey and black moose, caribou, orignal, and 
elk. Mons. de Buffon has done what could be done, from the materials in his 
hands, towards clearing up the confusion introduced by the loose application of 
these names among the animals they are meant to designate. He reduces the 
whole to the renne and flat-horned elk. From all the information I have been able 
to collect, I strongly suspect they will be found to cover three, if not four distinct 
species of animals. I have seen skins of a moose, and of the caribou : they differ 
more from each other, and from that of the round-horned elk, than I ever saw two 
skins differ, which belonged to different individuals of any wild species. These dif- 
ferences are in the color, length, and coarseness of the hair, and in the size, texture, 
and marks of the skin. Perhaps it will be found that there is — 1, The moose, 
black and grey ; the former being said to be the male, and the latter the female. 2, 
The caribou or renne. 3, The flat-horned elk, or orignal. 4, The round-horned 
elk. Should this last, though possessing so nearly the characters of the elk, be 
found to be the same with the Cerf d' Ardennes or Brandhirtz of Germany, still 
there will remain the three species first enumerated. See Catesby and Kalm — rea- 
son to believe that the Moose is the palmated elk or orignal. 

t Kalm II. 340 ; L 82. 



ANIMALS. 59 

have never come within my own notice. These, I think, are 
the only instances in which I have departed from the authority 
of Mons. de Buffon in the construction of this table. I take 
him for my ground work, because I think him the best informed 
of any naturalist who has ever written. The result is, that 
there are 18 quadrupeds peculiar to Europe ; more than four 
times as many, to wit, 74, peculiar to America ; that the * first 
of these 74 weighs more than the whole column of Europeans ; 
and consequently this second table disproves the second mem- 
ber of the assertion, that the animals peculiar to the new 
world are on a smaller scale, so far as that assertion relied on 
European animals for support ; and it is in full opposition to 
the theory which makes the animal volume to depend on the 
circumstances of heat and moisture. 

The third table comprehends those quadrupeds only which 
are domestic in both countries. That some of these, in some 
parts of America, have become less than their original stock, 
is doubtless true ; and the reason is very obvious. In a thinly 
peopled country, the spontaneous productions of the forests 
and waste fields are sufficient to support indifferently the do- 
mestic animals of the farmer, with a very little aid from him 
in the severest and scarcest season. He therefore finds it 
more convenient to receive them from the hand of Nature in 
that indifferent state, than to keep up their size by a care and 
nourishment which would cost him much labor. If, on this 
low fare, these animals dwindle, it is no more than they do in 
those parts of Europe where the poverty of the soil, or poverty 
of the owner, reduces them to the same scanty subsistence. It 
is the uniform effect of one and the same cause, whether acting 
on this or that side of the globe. It would be erring therefore 

* The Tapir is the largest of the animals peculiar to America. I collect his 
weight thus. Mons. de Buffon says, xxiii. 274, that he is of the size of a Zebu, or 
a small cow. He gives us the measures of a Zebu, ib. 94, as taken by himself, viz : 
5 feet 7 inches from the muzzle to the root of the tail, and 5 feet 1 inch circumfer- 
ence behind the fore legs. A bull, measuring in the same way 6 feet 9 inches, and 
5 feet 2 inches, weighed 600 ft. — viii. 153. The Zebu then, and of course the 
Tapir, would weigh about 500 ft. But one individual, of every species of European 
peculiars, would probably weigh less than 400 ft. These are French measures and 
weights. 



60 ANIMALS. 

against that rule of philosophy, which teaches us to ascribe like 
effects to like causes, should we impute this diminution of size 
in America to any imbecility or want of uniformity in the ope- 
rations of Nature. It may be affirmed with truth that, in those 
countries, and with those individuals of America, where neces- 
sity or curiosity has produced equal attention as in Europe to 
the nourishment of animals, the horses, cattle, sheep and hogs 
of the one continent are as large as those of the other. There 
are particular instances, well attested, where individuals of this 
country have imported good breeders from England, and have 
improved their size by care in the course of some years. To 
make a fair comparison between the two countries, it will not 
answer to bring together animals of what might be deemed the 
middle or ordinary size of their species ; because an error in 
judging of that middle or ordinary size would vary the result 
of the comparison. Thus Monsieur D'Aubenton considers a 
horse of 4 feet 5 inches high, and 400 ft weight, French, 
equal to 4 feet 8.6 inches, and 436 ft English, as a middle- 
sized horse. * Such a one is deemed a small horse in America. 
The extremes must therefore be resorted to. The same ana- 
tomist dissected a horse of 5 feet 9 inches height, French 
measure, equal to 6 feet 1.7 English, f This is near 6 inches 
higher than any horse I have seen ; and could it be supposed 
that I had seen the largest horses in America, the conclusion 
would be, that ours have diminished, or that we have bred from 
a smaller stock. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, where the 
climate is favorable to the production of grass, bullocks have 
been slaughtered which weighed 2,500, 2,200, and 2,100 ft 
nett ; and those of 1,800 ft have been frequent. I have seen 
a hog J weigh 1,050 ft after the blood, bowels and hair had 
been taken from him. Before he was killed an attempt was 
made to weigh him with a pair of steelyards, graduated to 
1,200 ft, but he weighed more. Yet this hog was probably 
not within fifty generations of the European stock. I am well 
informed of another which weighed 1,100 ft gross. Asses 

*Vii. 432. fvii. 474. J In Williamsburg, April, 1769. 



ANIMALS. 61 

have been still more neglected than any other domestic animal 
in America. They are neither fed nor housed in the most 
rigorous season of the year. Yet they are larger than those 
measured by Mons. D'Aubenton, of 3 feet 7^ inches, 3 feet 4 
inches, and 3 feet 2| inches ; the latter weighing only 215.8 
ft). * These sizes, I suppose, have been produced by the same 
negligence in Europe, which has produced a like diminution 
here. Where care has been taken of them on that side of the 
water, they have been raised to a size bordering on that of the 
horse ; not by the heat and dryness of the climate, but by good 
food and shelter. Goats have been also much neglected in 
America. Yet they are very prolific here, bearing twice or 
three times a year, and from one to five kids at a birth. 
Mons. de Buffon has been sensible of a difierence in this cir- 
cumstance in favor of America, f But what are their greatest 
weights I cannot say. A large sheep here weighs 100 ft). I 
observe Mons. D'Aubenton calls a ram of 62 ft) one of the 
middle size. % But to say what are the extremes of growth 
in these and the other domestic animals of America, would 
require information of which no one individual is possessed. § 
The weights actually known and stated in the third table pre- 
ceding, will suffice to shew that we may conclude, on probable 
grounds, that, with equal food and care, the climate of Ame- 
rica will preserve the races of domestic animals as large as the 
European stock from which they are derived ; and consequently 
that the third member of Mons. de Buifon's assertion, that the 
domestic animals are subject to degeneration from the climate 
of America, is as probably wrong as the first and second were 
certainly so. ^ 

That the last part of it is erroneous, which affirms that the 
species of American quadrupeds are comparatively few, is evi- 
dent from the tables taken all together. By these it appears 
that there are an hundred species aboriginal of America. || 
Mons. de Bufi'on supposes about double that number existing 
on the whole earth. Of these, Europe, Asia, and Africa, fur- 

* Viii. 48, 65, 66. f xviii. 96. % i^- ^1- 

§ Perros en la Espafiola han crecido en numero y en grandeza, deauerte que 
plaga de aquellaisla. — Acosta iv. 33. l|Xxx. 219; xviii. 121. 



62 ANIMALS. 

nisli suppose 126 ; that is, the 26 common to Europe and Ame- 
rica, and about 100 which are not in America at all. The 
American species then are to those of the rest of the earth, as 
100 to 126, or 4 to 5. But the residue of the earth being 
double the extent of America, the exact proportion would have 
been but as 4 to 8. * 

Hitherto I have considered this hypothesis as applied to 
brute animals only, and not in its extension to the man of 
America, whether aboriginal or transplanted, f It is the opi- 
nion of Mons. de Buffon that the former furnishes no excep- 
tion to it : I " Quoique le sauvage du nouveau monde soit 
^-peu-pres de mSme stature que I'homme de notre monde, cela 
ne suffit pas pour qu'il puisse faire une exception au fait g^n^- 
ral du rapetissement de la nature vivante dans tout ce conti- 
nent : le sauvage est foible & petit par les organes de la gene- 
ration ; il n'a ni poil, ni barbe, & nulla ardeur pour sa femelle : 
quoique plus l^ger que 1' Europden parce qu'il a plus d'habitude 
£1 courir, il est cependant beaucoup moins fort de corps ; il est 
aussi bien moins sensible, & cependant plus craintif k plus 
lS,che ; il n'a nulle vivacity, nulle activity dans I'ame ; celle du 
corps est moins un exercice, un mouvement volontaire qu'une 
n^cessitd d'action causae par le besoin ; otez lui la faim^ & la 
soif, vous d^truirez en meme temps le principe actif de tous ses 
mouvemens ; il demeurera stupidement en repos sur ses jambes 
ou couch^ pendant des jours en tiers. II ne faut pas aller 
chercher plus loin la cause de la vie dispersde des sauvages & 
de leur ^loignement pour la soci^t^ ; la plus prdcieuse ^tincelle 
du feu de la nature leur a 6t4 refusde ; ils manquent d'ardeur 
pour leur femelle, & par consequent d'amour pour leur sem- 
blables ; ne connoissant pas I'attachement le plus vif, le plus 
tendre de tous, leurs autres sentimens de ce genre sont froids & 
languissans ; ils aiment foiblement leurs p^res and leurs enfans ; 
la society la plus intime de toutes, celle de la mSme famille, n'a 
done chez eux que de foibles liens ; la soci^td d'une famille a 
I'autre n'en a point du tout ; des lors nulle reunion, nulle r^- 
publique, nulle etat social. La physique de I'amour fait chez 



1. Epoques, 378. fl. Clavigero, 118. j xviii. 146. 



ANIMALS. 63 

eux le moral des moeurs ; leur coeur est glac^, leur soci^t^ froide, 
& leur empire dur. lis ne regardent leurs femmes que comme 
des servantes de peine ou des betes de somme qu'ils chargent, 
sans management, du fardeau de leur chasse, & qu'ils forcent 
sans piti^, sans reconnoissance, ^ des ouvrages qui souvent sont 
audessus de leurs forces ; ils n'ont que peu d'enfans ; ils en ont 
peu de soin ; tout se ressent de leur premier d^faut ; ils sont 
indiff^rents parce qu'ils sont peu puissans, & cette indijBference 
pour le sexe est la tache originelle qui fl^trit la nature, qui 
FempSche de s'epanouir, & qui detruisant lesgermes de la vie, 
coupe en meme temps la racine de la soci^te. L'homme ne fait 
done point d'exception ici. La nature en lui refusant les puis- 
sances de I'amour I'a plus maltrait^ & plus rapetisd qu'aucun 
des animaux." An afflicting picture indeed, which, for the 
honor of human natiiire, I am glad to believe has no original. 
Of the Indian of South America I know nothing, for I would 
not honor with the appellation of knowledge what I derive from 
the fables published of them. These I believe to be just as 
true as the fables of ^sop. This belief is founded on what I 
have seen of man, white, red, and black, and what has been 
written of him by authors, enlightened themselves, and writing 
amidst an enlightened people. The Indian of North America 
being more within our reach, I can speak of him somewhat 
from my own knowledge, but more from the information of 
others better acquainted with him^ and on whose truth and 
judgment I can rely. From these sources I am able to say, in 
contradiction to this representation, * that he is neither more 
defective in ardor, nor more impotent with his female, than the 
white reduced to the same diet and exercise ; that he is brave, 
when an enterprise depends on bravery ;t education with him 
making the point of honor consist in the destruction of an 
enemy by stratagem, and in the preservation of his own person 
free from injury ; or perhaps this is nature ; while it is education 
which teaches us to | honor force more than finesse ; that he 

* Amer. Vesp. 13 : " Fuora di misura lussurioai, &c. — 108. 
t Amer. Vesp. 30, 31, 39, 75 : " Di buono sforzo, e di grande animo."— lb. 78. 
J Sol Rodomonte sprezza di venire ^ 

Se non, dove la via meno & sieura. — Ariosto 14, 117. 



64 ANIMALS. 

will defend himself against an host of enemies, always choosing 
to be killed rather than to* surrender, though it be to the 
whites, who he knows will treat him well ; that in other situa- 
tions also he meets death with more deliberation, and endures 
tortures with a firmness unknown almost to religious enthu- 
siasm with us ; that he is affectionate to his children, careful of 
them, and indulgent in the extreme ; that his affections com- 
prehend his other connections, weakening, as with us, from 
circle to circle, as they recede from the centre ; that his friend- 
ships are strong and faithful to the uttermost f extremity ; that 



* In so judicious an author as Don Ulloa, and one to whom we are indebted for 
the most precise information we have of South America, I did not expect to find 
such assertions as the following : " Los Indios vencidos son los mas cobardes y 
pusilanimes que se peuden ver : se hacen inocentes, se humillan hasta el desprecio, 
disculpan su inconsiderado arrojo, y con las stiplicas y losruegos dan seguras prue- 
bas de su pusilanimidad. — 6 lo que refieren las historias de la Conquista, sobre sixs 
grandes acciones, es en un sentido figuardo, 6 el caracter de estas gentcs no es ahora 
segun eraentonces; pero lo que no tiene duda es, que las Naciones de la parte Sep- 
tentrional subsisten en la misma libertad que siempre han tenido, sin haber sido 
sojuzgados por algun Principe extrano, y que viven segun su regimen y costumbres 
de toda la vida, sin que haya babido motivo para que muden de caracter ; y en estos 
se v6 lo mismo. que sucede en los del Peru, y de toda la America Meridional, redu- 
cidos, y que nunca lo han estado." Noticias Americanas. — Entretenimiento xviii. 
^ 1. Don Ulloa here admits that the authors who have described the Indians of 
South America, before they were enslaved, had represented them as a brave people, 
and therefore seems to have su.spected that the cowardice which he bad observed in 
those of the present race might be the eifect of subjugation. But, supposing the 
Indians of North America to be cowards also, he concludes the ancestors of those of 
South America to have been so too, and therefore that those authors have given 
fictions for truths. He was probably not acquainted himself with the Indians of 
North America, and had formed his opinion of them from hearsay. Great num- 
bers of French, of English, and of Americans, are perfectly acquainted with these 
people. Had he had an opportunity of enquiring of any of these, they would have 
told him that there never was an instance known of an Indian begging his life when 
in the power of his enemies : on the contrary, that he courts death by every possible 
insult and provocation. His reasoning then would have been reversed thus: " Sinco 
the present Indian of North America is brave, and authors tells us that the ancestors 
of those of South America were brave also, it must follow that the cowardice of 
their descendants is the eflfect of subjugation and ill treatment." For he observes 
ib. § 27, that " Los obrages los aniquilan por la inhumanidad con que se les trata." 
■f A remarkable instance of this appeared in the case of the late Colonel Byrd, 
who was sent to the Cherokee nation to transact some business with them. It hap- 
pened that some of our disorderly people had just killed one or two of that nation. 
It was therefore proposed in the council of the Cherokees that Colonel Byrd should 
be put to death in revenge for the loss of their countrymen. Among them was a 
chief called Silouee, who, on some former occasion, had contracted an acquaintance 
and friendship with Colonel Byrd. He came to him every night in his tent, and 



ANIMALS. 65 

Ms sensibility is keen, even the warriors weeping most bitterly 
on the loss of their children, though in general they endeavor 
to appear superior to human events ; that his vivacity and ac- 
tivity of mind is equal to ours in the same situation ; hence 
his eagerness for hunting, and for games of chance. The wo- 
men are submitted to unjust drudgery. This I believe is the 
case with every barbarous people. With such, force is law. 
The stronger sex therefore imposes on the weaker. It is civi- 
lization alone which replaces women in the enjoyment of their 
natural equality. That first teaches us to subdue the selfish 
passions, and to respect those rights in others which we value 
in ourselves. Were we in equal barbarism, our females would 
be equal drudges. The man with them is less strong than 
with us, but their woman stronger than ours ; and both for the 
same obvious reason ; because our man and their woman is 
habituated to labor, and formed by it. With both races the 
sex which is indulged with ease is least athletic. An Indian 
man is small in the hand and wrist for the same reason for 
which a sailor is large and strong in the arms and shoulders, 
and a porter in the legs and thighs. They raise fewer chil- 
dren than we do. The causes of this are to be found, not in 
a difference of nature, but of circumstance. The women 
very frequently attending the men in their parties of war and 
of hunting, child-bearing becomes extremely inconvenient to 
them. It is said, therefore, that they have learnt the practice 
of procuring abortion by the use of some vegetable ; and that 
it even extends to prevent conception for a considerable time 
after. * During these parties they are exposed to numerous 
hazards, to excessive exertions, to the greatest extremities of 



told him not to be afraid, they should not kill him. After many days deliberation, 
however, the determination was, contrary to Silouee's expectation, thatByrd should 
be put to death, and some warriors were dispatched as executioners, Silouee at- 
tended them, aud when they entered the tent he threw himself between them and 
Byrd, and said to the warriors, " This man is my friend ; before you get at him you 
must kill me." On which they returned, and the council respected the principle so 
much as to recede from their determination. 

" Vivono cento cinquanta anni." — Amer. Vesp. 111. 

*Amer. Vesp. 13. 

5 



<66 ANIMALS, 

hunger. Even at their homes the nation depends for food, 
through a certain part of every year, on the gleanings of the 
forest ; that is, they experience a famine once in every year. 
With all animals, if the female be badly fed, or not fed at all, 
her young perish ; and if both male and female be reduced to 
like want, generation becomes less active, less productive. To 
the obstacles then of want and hazard, which Nature has op- 
posed to the multiplication of wild animals, for the purpose of 
restraining their numbers within certain bounds, those of labor 
and of voluntary abortion are added with the Indian. No 
wonder then if they multiply less than we do. Where food is 
regularly supplied, a single farm will shew more of cattle than 
a whole country of forests can of buiBaloes. The same Indian 
women, when married to white traders, who feed them and 
their children plentifully and regularly, who exempt them 
from excessive drudgery, who keep them stationary and unex- 
posed to accident, produce and raise as many children as the 
white women.* Instances are known, under these circum- 
stances, of their rearing a dozen children. An inhuman 
practice once prevailed in this country of making slaves of 
the Indians. This practice commenced with the Spaniards 
with the first discovery of America. — [See Herrera. Amer. 
Yesp.] It is a fact well known with us, that the Indian wo- 
men so enslaved produced and raised as numerous families as 
either the whites or blacks among whom they lived. It has 
been said that Indians have less hair than the whites, except 
on the head. But this is a fact of which fair proof can 
scarcely be had. f With them it is disgraceful to be hairy 
on the body. They say it likens them to hogs. They there- 
fore pluck the hair as fast as it appears. ^But the traders who 
marry their women, and prevail on them to discontinue this 
practice, say that Nature is the same with them as with the 
whites. Nor, if the fact be true, is the consequence necessarv 
which has been drawn from it. Negroes have notoriously less 
hair than the whites ; yet they are more ardent. But if cold 
and moisture be the agents of Nature for diminishing the 

•■ Amer. Vesp. 13. " Sono donne molto generative," Ac. f Amer. Veap. 9, 



ANIMALS. 67 

racQS of animals, how comes she all at once to suspend their 
operation as to the physical man of the ncAV world, whom the 
Count acknowledges to be " §, peu pr^s de m^me stature que 
I'homme de notre monde," and to let loose their influence on 
his moral faculties ? How has this " combination of the ele- 
ments and other physical causes, so contrary to the enlarge- 
ment of animal nature in this new world, these obstacles to 
the developement and formation of great germs," been ar- 
rested and suspended, so as to permit the human body to 
acquire its just dimensions, and by what inconceivable process 
has their action been directed on his mind alone ? * To judge 
of the truth of this, to form a just estimate of their genius 
and mental powers, inore facts are wanting, and great allow- 
ance to be made for those circumstances of their situation 
which call for a display of particular talents only. This 
done, we shall probably find that they are formed in mind as 
well as in body, on the same module with the " Homo sa- 
piens Europaeus."t The principles of their society forbidding 
all compulsion, they are to be led to duty and to enterprise 
by personal influence and persuasion. Hence eloquence in 
council, bravery and address in war, become the foundations 
of all consequence with them. To these acquirements all their 
faculties are directed. Of their bravery and adfZress in war 
we have multiplied proofs, because we have been the subjects 
on which they were exercised. Of their emi^ience in oratory 
we have fewer examples, because it is displayed chiefly in their 
own councils. Some, however, we ha\^e of very superior 
lustre. I may challenge the whole d'ations of Demosthenes 
and Cicero, and of any more emi;ient orator, if Europe has 
furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage, supe- 
rior to the speech of Logan, » Mingo chief, to Lord Dun- 
more, when Governor of this State. And, as a testimony 
of their talents in this Hne, I beg leave to introduce it, 
first stating the incidents necessary for understanding it. In 
the Spring of the year 1774, a robbery and murder were com- 
mitted on an inhabitant of the frontiers of Virginia, by two 
Indians of the Shawanee tribe. The neighboring whites, ac- 

* Xviii. 145. t Linn. Syst. Definition of a Man. 



68 ANIMALS. 

cording to their custom, undertook to punish this outrage in a 
summary way. Col. Cresap, a man infamous for the many 
murders he had committed on those much-injured people, col- 
lected a party, and proceeded down the Kanhaway in quest ot 
vengeance. Unfortunately a canoe of women and children, 
with one man only, was seen coming from the opposite shore, 
unarmed, and unsuspecting a hostile attack from the whites. 
Cresap and his party concealed themselves on the bank of the 
river, and the moment the canoe reached the shore, singled 
out their objects, and at one fire killed every person in it. 
This happened to be the family of Logan, who had long been 
distinguished as a friend of the whites. This unworthy re- 
turn provoked his vengeance. He accordingly signalized him- 
self in the war which ensued. In the Autumn of the same 
year, a decisive battle was fought at the mouth of the Great 
Kanhaway, between the collected forces of the Shawanees, 
Mingoes, and Delawares, and a detachment of the Virginia 
jtnilitia. The Indians were defeated, and sued for peace. Lo- 
gan however disdained to be seen among the suppliants. But, 
lest the sincerity of a treaty should be distrusted, from which 
so distinguished a chief absented himself, he sent by a messen- 
ger the following speech to be delivered to Lord Dunmore. 

"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Lo- 
gan's cabin Inmgry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever he 
came cold and aaked, and he clothed him not. During the 
course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle 
in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the 
whites, that my countrj/men pointed as they passed, and said, 
' Logan is the friend of ♦rhite men.' I had even thought to 
have lived with you, but fo.' the injuries of one man. Col. 
Cresap, the last Spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, mur- 
dered all the relations of Logan, aot sparing even my women 
and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins 
of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I 
have sought it : I have killed many : I have fully glutted my 
vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. 
But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Lo- 



ANIMALS. 69 

gan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save liia 
life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one." * 

Before we condemn the Indians of this continent as wanting 
genius, we must consider that letters have not yet been intro- 
duced among them, f Were we to compare them in their pre- 
sent state with the Europeans North of the Alps, when the 
Roman arms and arts first crossed those mountains, the com- 
parison would be unequal, because, at that time, those parts of 
Europe were swarming with numbers ; because numbers pro- 
duce emulation, and multiply the chances of improvement, and 
one improvement begets another. Yet I may safely ask, 
How many good poets, how many able mathematicians, how 
many great inventors in arts or sciences, had Europe North of 
the Alps then produced ? And it was sixteen centuries after 
this before a Newton could be formed. I do not mean to deny 
that there are varieties in the race of man, distinguished by 
their powers both of body and mind. I believe there are, as 
I see to be the case in the races of other animals. I only 
mean to suggest a doubt, whether the bulk and faculties of 
animals depend on the side of the Atlantic on which their 
food happens to grow, or which furnishes the elements of which 
they are compounded ? Whether Nature has enlisted herself 
as a Cis or Trans- Atlantic partizan ? I am induced to sus- 
pect there has been more eloquence than sound reasoning dis- 
played in support of this theory ; that it is one of those cases 
where the judgment has been seduced by a glowing pen ; and 
whilst I render every tribute of honor and esteem to the cele- 
brated Zoologist, who has added, and is still adding, so many 
precious things to the treasures of science, I must doubt whe- 
ther in this instance he has not cherished error also, by lend- 
ing her for a moment his vivid imagination and bewitching 
language. % (4.) 

* See letter of J. B. Gibson in Appendix iv. 1 1- Clavigero, 120. 

J No writer, equally witt M. de Buffon, proves the power of eloquence and un- 
certainty of theories. He takes any hypothesis whatever, or its reverse, and fur- 
nishes explanations equally specious and persuasive. Thus in his xviii. volume, 
wishing to explain why the largest animals are found in the torrid zone, he as- 
sumes heat as the efficient principle of the animal volume. Speaking of America, 



70 ANIMALS. 

So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new theory of 
the tendency of Nature to belittle her productions on this side 
the Atlantic. Its application to the race of whites, trans- 
planted from Europe, remained for the Abb^ Raynal. " On 
doit etre etonn^ (he says) que 1' Amerique n'ait pas encore pro- 
duit un bon poete, un habile mathematicien, un homme de ge- 
nie dans un seul art, ou une seule science." 7. Hist. Philos. 
p. 92 ed. Maestricht. 1774. " America has not yet produced 
one good poet." When we shall have existed as a people as 
long as the Greeks did before they produced a Homer, the Ro- 
mans a Virgil, the French a Racine and Voltaire, the English 
a Shakespeare and Milton, should this reproach be still true, 
we will enquire from what unfriendly causes it has proceeded, 
that the other countries of Em*ope and quarters of the earth 
shall not have inscribed any name in the roll of poets. * But 
neither has America produced "one able mathematician, one 
man of genius in a single art or a single science." In war we 
have produced a Washington, whose memory will be adored 
while liberty shall have votaries, whose name will triumph over 
time, and will in future ages assume its just station among the 
most celebrated worthies of the world, when that wretched 
philosophy shall be forgotten, which would have arranged him 
among the degeneracies of Nature. In physics we have pro- 
duced a Franklin, than whom no one of the present age has 

he says : " La terre y est froide impuissante a produire les principes actifs, a deve- 
loper les germes des plus grandes quadrupedes auxquels il faut, pour croitre et se 
multiplier, toute la chaleur toute I'activite que le soleil peut donner a la terre 
amoureuse." — Page 156. " L'ardeur des hommes, et la grandeur des animaux de- 
pendent de la salubrite, et de la chaleur de I'air." — lb. 160. In his Epochs again 
when it is become convenient to his theory to consider the bones of the Mammoth 
found in the coldest regions, as the bones of the elephant, and necessary to explain 
how the elephant there should have been six times as large as that of the torrid zone, 
it is cold which produces animal volume. " Tout ce qu' il y a de colossal et de grand 
dans la nature, a et6 forme dans les terres du Nord." — 1. Epoques, 255. " C'est 
dans les regions de notre Nord que la nature vivante s'es't elevee a ses plus grandes 
dimensions." — lb. 263. 

* Has the world as yet produced more than two poets, acknowledged to be such 
by all nations ? An Englishman only reads Milton with delight, an Italian Tasso, 
a Frenchman the Henriade, a Portuguese Camouens ; but Homer and Virgil have 
been the rapture of every age and nation ; they are read with enthusiasm in their 
originals by those who can read the originals, and in translations by those who 
cannot, 



ANIMALS. 71 

made more important discoveries, nor has enriched philosophy 
with more or more ingenious solutions of the phenomena of 
Nature. We have supposed Mr. Eittenhouse second to no 
astronomer living ; that in genius he must be the first, because 
he is self-taught. As an artist he has exhibited as great a 
proof of mechanical genius as the world has ever produced. 
He has not indeed made a world ; but he has by imitation ap- 
proached nearer its Maker than any man who has lived from 
the creation to this day. * As in philosophy and war, so in 
government, in oratory, in painting, in the plastic art, we 
might show that America, though but a child of yesterday, 
has already given hopeful proofs of genius, as well of the 
nobler kinds, which arouse the best feelings of man, which call 
him into action, which substantiate his freedom, and conduct 
him to happiness, as of the subordinate, which serve to amuse 
him only. We therefore suppose that this reproach is as un- 
just as it is unkind ; and that of the geniuses which adorn the 
present age, America contributes its full share. For compar- 
ing it with those countries, where genius is most cultivated, 
where are the most excellent models for art, and scaffoldings 
for the attainment of science, as France and England for in- 
stance, we calculate thus : The United States contain three 
millions of inhabitants; France twenty millions; and the 
British Islands ten. We produce a Washington, a Franklin, a 
Rittenhouse. France then should have half a dozen in each 
of these lines, and Great Britain half that number, equally 
eminent. It may be true that France has : we are but just 
becoming acquainted with her, and our acquaintance so far 
gives us high ideas of the genius of her inhabitants. It would 
be injuring too many of them to name particularly a Voltaire, 
a Buffon, the constellation of Encyclopedists, the Abb^ Ray- 
nal himself, &c., &c. We therefore have reason to believe she 



* There are various ways of keeping truth out of sight. Mr. Rittenhouse's 
model of the planetary system has the plagiary appellation of an Orrery j and the 
quadrant invented by Godfrey, an American also, and with the aid of which the 
European nations traverse the globe, is called Hadley's quadrant. Huyghens gave 
the first description of an instrument of the former kind, under the name of Auto- 
matum Planetarium. — 2. Montucia, 485. 



T2 ANIMALS. 

can produce her full quota of genius. The present war having 
so long cut off all communication with Great Britain, we are 
not able to make a fair estimate of the state of science in that 
country. The spirit in Ayhich she wages war is the only 
sample before our eyes, and that does not seem the legitimate 
offspring either of science or of civilization. The sun of her 
glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her philosophy has 
crossed the Channel, her freedom the Atlantic, and herself 
seems passing to that awful dissolution, whose issue is not 
given human foresight to scan. * 

Having given a sketch of our minerals, vegetables, and 
quadrupeds, and being led by a proud theory to make a com- 
parison of the latter with those of Europe, and to extend it to 
the Man of America, both aboriginal and emigrant, I will pro- 
ceed to the remaining articles comprehended under the present 
query. 

Between ninety and an hundred of our birds have been de- 
scribed by Catesby. His drawings are better as to form and 
attitude, than coloring, which is generally too high. They 
are the following : 

* In a later edition of the Abbe Raynal's work, he has withdrawn his censure 
from that part of the new world inhabited by the Federo-Americans ; but has left it 
still on the other parts. North America has always been more accessible to strangers 
than South. If he was mistaken then as to the former, he may be so as to the lat- 
ter. The glimmerings which reach us from South America enable us only to see 
that its inhabitants are held under the accumulated pressure of slavery, supersti- 
tion and ignorance. Whenever they shall be able to rise under this weight, and to 
show themselves to the rest of the world, they will probably show they are like the 
rest of the world. We have not yet sufficient evidence that there are more lakes 
and fogs in South America than in other parts of the earth. Amer. Vesp., 115. 
Quivi il cielo e I'aere e rare volte adombrato dalle nuvole, quasi sempre i giorni sono 
sereni ? As little do we know what would be their operation on the mind of man. 
That country has been visited by Spaniards and Portuguese chiefly, and almost 
exclusively. These, going from a country of the old world remarkably dry in its 
soil and climate, fancied there were more lakes and fogs in South America than in 
Europe. An inhabitant of Ireland, Sweden, or Finland, would have formed the 
contrary opinion. Had South America then been discovered and seated by a people 
from a fenny country, it would probably have been represented as much drier than 
the old world. A patient pursuit of facts, and cautious combination and comparison 
of them, is the drudgery to which man is subjected by his Maker, if he wishes to 
attain sure knowledge. 



ANIMALS. 



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78 ANIMALS. 

To this catalogue of our indigenous animals, I "will add a 
short account of an anomaly of Nature, taking place sometimes 
in the race of negroes brought from Africa, who, though black 
themselves, have, in rare instances, white children, called Al- 
binos. I have known four of these myself, and have faithful 
accounts of three others. The circumstances in which all the 
individuals agree are these. They are of a pallid cadaverous 
white, untinged with red, without any colored spots or seams ; 
their hair of the same kind of white, short, coarse, and curled 
as is that of the negro; all of them well formed, strong, 
healthy, perfect in their senses, except that of sight, and born 
of parents who had no mixture of white blood. Three of 
these Albinos were sisters, having two other full sisters, who 
were black. The youngest of the three was killed by light- 
ning, at twelve years of age. The eldest died at about 27 
years of age, in childbed, with her second child. The middle 
one is now alive in health, and has issue, as the eldest had, by 
a black man, which issue was black. They are uncommonly 
shrewd, quick in their apprehensions and in reply. Their eyes 
are in a perpetual tremulous vibration, very weak, and much 
affected by the sun ; but they see better in the night than we 
do. They are of the property of Colonel Skipwith, of Cum- 
berland. The fourth is a negro woman, whose parents came 
from Guinea, and had three other children, who were of their 
own color. She is freckled, her eye sight so weak, that she is 
obliged to wear a bonnet in the Summer ; but it is better in 
the night than day. She had an Albino child by a black man. 
It died at the age of a few weeks. These were the property 
of Colonel Carter, of Albemarle. A sixth instance is a wo- 
man of the property of a Mr. Butler, near Petersburgh. She 
is stout and robust, has issue a daughter, jet black, by a black 
man. I am not informed as to her eye sight. The seventh 
instance is of a male belonging to a Mr. Lee, of Cumberland. 
His eyes are tremulous and weak. He is tall of stature, and 
now advanced in years. He is the only male of the Albinos 
which have come within my information. Whatever be the 
cause of the disease in the skin, or in its coloring matter. 



ANIMALS. ' 79 

which produces this change, it seems more incident to the fe- 
male than male sex. To these I may add the mention of a 
negro man within my own knowledge, born black, and of black 
parents ; on whose chin, when a boy, a white spot appeared. 
This continued to increase till he became a man, by which time 
it had extended over his chin, lips, one cheek, the under jaw 
and neck on that side. It is of the Albino white, without any 
mixture of red, and has for several years been stationary. He 
is robust and healthy, and the change of color was not accom- 
panied with any sensible disease, either general or topical. 
Of our fish and insects there has been nothing like a full 
description or collection. More of them are described in 
Catesby than in any other work. Many also are to be found 
in Sir Hans Sloane's Jamaica, as being common to that and 
this country. The honey bee is not a native of our continent. 
Marcgrave indeed mentions a species of honey bee in Brasil. * 
But this has no sting, and is therefore different from the one 
we have, which resembles perfectly that of Europe. The In- 
dians concur with us in the tradition that it was brought from 
Europe ; but when, and by whom, we know not. The bees 
have generally extended themselves into the country, a little 
in advance of the white settlers, f The Indians, therefore, 
call them the white man's fly, and consider their approach as 
indicating the approach of the settlements of the whites. A 
question here occurs, how far northwardly have these insects 
been found ? That they are unknown in Lapland, I infer 
from Scheffer's information that the Laplanders eat the pine 
bark, prepared in a certain way, instead of those things 
sweetened with sugar. " Hoc comedunt pro rebus saccharo 
conditis." — Scheff. Lapp., chap. 18. Certainly, if they had 
honey, it would be a better substitute for sugar than any pre- 



* See Herrera, Dec. 1, 1. 10, c. 8. " Descubierta Yucatan, se hallo abundancia 
de cera y miel." — And ib. c. 9. " Ay abispas y abesas, como las de Castilla, aunque 
estas son menores, y pican con mas furia." — Id. Dec. 2, 1. 3, c. 1. 

f See 1 Clavigero, 107. " En los terminos de Guayaquil ay abejas, que enxambran 
y crian miel en el bucco de los arboles son poco mayores que moscas, la cera y miel 
que labran es rubia y aunque tiene buengusto no es tal como el de Castilla. — Herr. 
5, 10, 10. 



80 ANIMALS — CLIMATE. 

paration of the pine bark. Kalm tells us the honey bee can- 
not live through the Winter in Canada. * They furnish then 
an additional proof of the remarkable fact first observed by 
the Count de Buffon, and which has thrown such a blaze of 
light on the field of natural history, that no animals are found 
in both continents, but those which are able to bear the cold 
of those regions where they probably join. 

We have it from the Indians also that the common domestic 
fly is not originally of America, but came with the whites from 
Europe, f 



QUERY YII. 



A NOTICE OF ALL WHAT CAN INCREASE THE PROGRESS OP 
HUMAN KNOWLEDGE ? 

Under the latitude of this query, I will presume it not im- 
proper nor unacceptable to furnish some data for estimating 
the climate of Virginia. % Journals of observations on the 
quantity of rain, and degree of heat, being lengthy, confused, 
and too minute to produce general and distinct ideas, I have 
taken five years observations, to Avit, from 1772 to 1777, made 
in Williamsburgh and its neighborhood, have reduced them to 
an average for every month in the year, and stated those aver- 
ages in the following table, adding an analytical view of the 
winds during the same period. 

» I. 126. 

•|- We have the same account from South America. Condamine in his Voyage dc 
la riviere des Amazones, pa. 95, says " Divers Indiens ont rapports qu'ils avoient 
vu sur les bords de la riviere de Coari dans le haut des terres, un pays decouvert, 
dea mouches et quantite de betes a comes, objets nouveaux pour eux, et qui prou- 
rent que les sources deccs rivieres arrosent des pays voisins des colonies Espagnoles 

du haut Perou." 

j: Musschenb., 23, 65. 



CLIMATE. 



81 





Fall ofl 


Least & great- 






















rain, 


est daily heat 








WINDS. 








&c., in 


by Fahrenheit's 






































inches. 


thermometer. 


N. 


N. K 


L'. 


S.U. 


S. 


sw. 


VV. 


NW. 


Tot'i 


Jan'y 


3.192 


3Si to 44 


73 


47 


32 


10 


11 


78 


40 


46 


337 


Feb'y 


2.049 


41 to 47i 


61 


52 


'24 


11 


4 


63 


30' 


31 


276 


Mar. 


3.95 


48 to 54i 


49 


44 


38 


23 


14 


83 


29 


3o 


318 


April 


3,68 


56 to 62i 


35 


44 


54 


19 


9 


58 


18 


20 


257 


May 


2.871 


63 to 70i 


27 


36 


62 


23 


7 


74 


32 


20 


281 


June 


3,751 


71i to 78i 


22 


34 


43 


24 


13 


81 


25 


26 


267 


July 


4,497 


77 to 82i 


41 


44 


75 


15 


7 


95 


32 


19 


328 


Aug. 


9.153 


76i to 81 


43 


52 


40 


30 


9 


103 


27 


30 


334 


Sept. 


4.761 


69i to 74i 


70 


60 


51 


18 


10 


81 


18 


37 


345 


Oct, 


3.633 


61i to 66i 


52 


77 


64 


15 


6 


66 


23 


34 


327 


Nov. 


2.617 


471 to 53i 


74 


21 


20 


14 


9 


63 


35 


68 


294 


Dec. 


2.877 


43 to 481 


64 


37 


18 


16 


10 


91 


42 


56 


334 


Total, 


47.038 


8 a. m. 1 4 p. m. 


611 


548 


521 


223 


109 


926 


351 


409 


3698 



[Supposed to have been made at Monticello.] 



1789 


Oct'r 1 


Ice 


1792 


Sep. 21 


None 


1808 


Sep. 27 


None 


1816 


Oct'r 7 


thin ice 


1823 


Sep. 29 


None 



Snow Birds 

None 

None 
Snow Birds 

None 



Spoiled tobacco on the scaffold. 
Tobacco destroyed totally out of green belt. 
Tobacco, except in green belt, untouched. 
Late corn spoiled ; all safe in green belt. 
Green belt unaffected ; pumpkin vines frozen. 



In the month of August, 1801, I carefully examined the temperature of my well 
water in the District of Maine, and found it at 52 degrees of Fahrenheit's ther- 
mometer. 

The depth of the well is 28 feet j the depth of the water at this time was 4 feetj 
the latitude of the place is 44 22 North ; longitude about 69 40 W. 

In September 1802 I examined with thesame instrument, and with equal care, the 
temperature of the well water, where I live, on the Capitol hill, and found it at 59° 
of Fahrenheit. This well is upwards of 40 feet in depth, and had at the time about 
7 or 8 feet of water. 

My well, in Maine, is an open draw well, without a pump ; the well on the Capi- 
tol hill has a pump, and is close covered. 

The temperature of the water of Kennebeck river, the latter part of August, was 
72 i by Fahrenheit. 

H. DEARBORN. 

The rains of every month, (as of January for instance,) 
through the whole period of years, were added separately, and 
an average drawn from them. The coolest and warmest point 
of the same day in each year of the period were added sep- 
arately, and an average of the greatest cold and greatest heat 
of that day was formed. From the averages of every day in 
the month, a general average for the whole month was formed. 
The point from which the wind blew was observed two or three 
times in every day. These observations, in the month of Ja- 
nuary for instance, through the whole period, amounted to 
6 



82 CLIMATE. 

337. At 73 of these the -svind was from the North ; at 47 
from the Northeast, &c. So that it will be easy to see in what 
proportion each wind usually prevails in each month; or, 
taking the whole year, the total of observations through the 
whole period having been 3,698, it will be observed that 611 
of them were from the North, 558 from the Northeast, &c. 

Though by this table it appears we have on an average 47 
inches of rain annually, which is considerably more than 
usually falls in Europe, yet from the information I have col- 
lected, I suppose we have a much greater proportion of sun- 
shine here than there. Perhaps it will be found there are 
twice as many cloudy days in the middle parts of Europe as 
in the United States of America. I mention the middle parts 
of Europe, because my information does not extend to its 
Northern or Southern parts. 

In an extensive country, it will, of course, be expected that 
the climate is not the same in all its parts. It is remarkable 
that, proceeding on the same parallel of latitude westwardly, 
the climate becomes colder in like manner as when you proceed 
2iorthwardly. This continues to be the case till you attain the 
summit of the Alleghaney, which is the highest land between 
the ocean and the Missisipi. From thence, descending in the 
same latitude to the Missisipi, the change reverses ; and, if we 
may believe travelers, it becomes warmer there than it is in the 
same latitude on the sea side. Their testimony is strengthened 
by the vegetables and animals which subsist and multiply there 
naturally, and do not on our sea coast. Thus Catalpas grow 
spontaneously on the Missisipi^ as far as the latitude of 37°, 
and reeds as far as 38°. Perroquets even winter on the 
Sioto, in the 39th degree of latitude. In the Summer of 1779, 
when the thermometer was at 90° at Monticello, and 96 at 
Vfilliamsburgh, it was 110° at Kaskaskia. Perhaps the moun- 
tain, which overhangs this village on the North side, may, by 
its reflection, have contributed somewhat to produce this heat. 
The difference of temperature of the air at the sea coast, or on 
Chesapeak Bay, and at the Alleghaney, has not been ascer- 
tained ; but cotemporary observations, made at Williamsburgh, 



CLIMATE. »o 

or in its neighborhood, and at Monticello, which is on the most 
eastern ridge of mountains, called the Southwest, where they 
are intersected by the Rivanna, have furnished a ratio by which 
that diiFerence may in some degree be conjectured. These ob- 
servations make the difference between Williamsburgh and the 
nearest mountains, at the position before mentioned, to be on 
an average 6^ degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. Some 
allowance however is to be made for the difference of latitude 
between these two places, the latter being 38° 8' 11", which is 
52' 22" North of the former. By cotemporary observations 
of between five and six weeks, the averaged and almost unva- 
ried difference of the height of mercury in the barometer, at 
those two places, was .784 of an inch, the atmosphere at Mon- 
ticello being so much the lightest, that is to say, about -jV of 
its whole weight. It should be observed, however, that the 
hill of Monticello is of 500 feet perpendicular height above 
the river which washes its base. This position being nearly 
central between our Northern and Southern boundaries, and 
between the bay and Alleghaney, may be considered as furnish- 
ing the best average of the temperature of our climate. Wil- 
liamsburgh is much too near the Southeastern corner to give a 
fair idea of our general temperature. 

But a more remarkable difference is in the winds which pre- 
vail in the different parts of the country. The following table 
exhibits a comparative view of the winds prevailing at Wil- 
liamsburgh, and at Monticello. It is formed by reducing nine' 
months observations at Monticello to four principal points, to 
Avit, the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest: 
these points being perpendicular to, or parallel with our coast, 
mountains and rivers ; and by reducing, in like manner, an 
equal number of observations, to wit, 421, from the preceding 
table of winds at Williamsburgh, taking them proportionably 
from every point : 

N. E. S. E. S. W. N. W. Total. 



Williamsburgh 
Monticello 



127 


61 


132 


101 


421 


32 


91 


126 


172 


421 



84 CLIMATE. 

By this it may be seen that the Southwest wind prevails 
equally at both places ; that the Northeast is, next to this, the 
principal wind towards the sea coast, and the Northwest is the 
predominant wind at the mountains. The difference between 
these two winds to sensation, and in fact, is very great. The 
Northeast is loaded with vapor, insomuch that the salt-makers 
have found that their crystals would not shoot while that 
blows ; it brings a distressing chill, is heavy and oppressive to 
the spirits ; the Northwest is dry, cooling, elastic and anima- 
ting. The Eastern and Southeastern breezes come on gene- 
rally in the afternoon. They have advanced into the country 
very sensibly within the memory of people now living. They 
formerly did not penetrate far above Williamsburgh. They 
are now frequent at Richmond, and every now and then reach 
the mountains. They deposit most of their moisture, however, 
before they get that far. As the lands become more cleared, 
it is probable they will extend still further westward. 

Going out into the open air, in the temperate, and in the 
warm months of the year, we often meet with bodies of warm 
air, which, passing by us in two or three seconds, do not afford 
time to the most sensible thermometer to seize their tempera- 
ture. Judging from my feelings only, I think they approach 
the ordinary heat of the human body. Some of them per- 
haps go a little beyond it. They are of about 20 or 30 feet 
diameter horizontally. Of their height we have no experience ; 
but probably they are globular volumes wafted or rolled along 
with the wind. But whence taken, where found, or how gene- 
rated ? They are not to be ascribed to volcanoes, because we 
have none. They do not happen in the Winter when the far- 
mers kindle large fires in clearing up their grounds. They are 
not confined to the Spring season, when we have fires which 
traverse whole counties, consuming the leaves which have 
fallen from the trees. And they are too frequent and general 
to be ascribed to accidental fires. I am persuaded their cause 
must be sought for in the atmosphere itself, to aid us in which 
I know but of these constant circumstances: a dry air, a 
temperature as warm at least as that of the Spring or Au- 



CLIMATE. 85 

tumn, and a moderate current of wind. They are most fre- 
quent about sunset ; rare in the middle parts of the day ; and 
I do not recollect having ever met with them in the morning. 

The variation in the weight of our atmosphere, as indicated 
by the barometer, is not equal to two inches of mercury. Du- 
ring twelve months observation at Williamsburgh, the extremes 
were 29, and 30.86 inches, the difference being 1.86 of an 
inch; and in nine months, during w^hich the height of the 
mercury was noted at Monticello, the extremes were 28.48 and 
29.69 inches, the variation being 1.21 of an inch. A gentle- 
man, who has observed his barometer many years, assures me 
it has never varied two inches. Cotemporary observations, 
made at Monticello and Williamsburgh, proved the variations 
in the weight of air to be simultaneous and corresponding in 
these two places. 

Our changes from heat to cold, and cold to heat, are very 
sudden and great. The mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer 
has been known to descend from 92° to 47° in thirteen hours; 
and in a single and most remarkable instance, on the 4th of 
July, 1793, in Orange county, it fell from 84° to 74° in ten 
minutes. 

It is taken for granted, that the preceding table of averaged 
heat will not give a false idea on this subject, as it proposes to 
state only the ordinary heat and cold of each month, and not 
those which are extraordinary. At Williamsburgh in August, 
1766, the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer was at 98°, cor- 
responding with 29|^ of Reaumur. At the same place in Janu- 
ary, 1780, it was at 6°, corresponding with 11 J below of 
Reaumur. I believe * these may be considered to be nearly the 
extremes of heat and cold in that part of the country. The 
latter may most certainly, as at that time York river, at York 
town, was frozen over, so that people walked across it; a cir- 
cumstance which proves it to have been colder than the Winter 
of 1740, 1741, usually called the cold Winter, when York river 

* At Paris, in 1753, the mercury in Reaumur's thermometer was at 30J above 0, 
and in 1776 it was at 16 below 0. The extremities of heat and cold therefore at 
Fajris are greater than at Williamsburgh, which is in the hottest part of Virginia.. 



86 CLIMATE. 

did not freeze over at that place. In the same season of 1780, 
Chesapeak Bay was solid, from its head to the mouth of Pa- 
.towmac. At Annapolis, where it is 5 J miles over between the 
nearest points of land, the ice was from 5 to 7 inches thick 
quite across, so that loaded carriages went over on it. Those, 
our extremes of heat and cold, of 6° and 98° were indeed 
very distressing to us, and were thought to put the extent of 
the human constitution to considerable trial. Yet a Siberian 
would have considered them as scarcely a sensible variation. 
At Jenniseitz, in that country, in latitude 58° 27', we are told 
that the cold in 1735 sunk the mercury, by Fahrenheit's scale, 
to 126° below nothing ; and the inhabitants of the same coun- 
try use stove rooms two or three times a week, in which they 
stay two hours at a time, the atmosphere of which raises the 
mercury to 135° above nothing. Late experiments shew that 
the human body will exist in rooms heated to 140° of Reau- 
mur, equal to 347° of Farenheit, and 135° above boiling wa- 
ter. * The hottest point of the 24 hours is about 4 o'clock, 
P. M., and the dawn of day the coldest. 

*The following observations on heat and cold, as they aflFect the animal body, may 
not be unacceptable to those who have not paid particular attention to the subject. 

The living body, (not like the dead one, which assumes the temperature of the 
surrounding atmosphere,) maintains within itself a steady heat of about 96° of 
Fahrenheit's thermometer, varying little with the ordinary variations of the atmos- 
phere. This heat is principally supplied by respiration. The vital air, or oxygen 
«)f the atmospheric fluid inhaled, is separated by the lungs from the azotic and car- 
bonic parts, and is absorbed by them; the caloric is disengaged, diffused through 
the mass of the body, and absorbed from the skin by the external air coming into 
contact with it. If the external air is of a high temperature, it does not take up the 
.superfluous heat of the body fast enough, and we complain of too much heat; 
if it is very cold, it absorbs the heat too fast, and produces the sensation of 
cold. To remedy this, we interpose a covering, which, acting as a strainer, 
lets less air come into contact with the body, and checks the escape of the 
vital heat. As the atmospheric air becomes colder, more or thicker coverings are 
used, till no more than the requisite portion of heat is conducted from the body. 
As it would be inconvenient in the day to be burthened with a mass of clothing 
entirely equivalent to great degrees of cold, we have resort to fires and warm rooms 
!to correct the state of the atmosphere, as a supplement to our clothing. If we 
liave not the opportunity, and the cold is excessive, the thinner parts, as the ear, the 
mose, the fingers and toes lose heat till they freeze, and, if the cold be sufBcient, the 
■whole body is reduced in heat, till death ensues ; as sailors experience who escape 
•from shipwreck, in Winter storms, on desert shores, where no fire can be found. 

Of the substances we use for covering, linen seems the openest strainer for ad- 
anission of air to the body, and the most copious conductor of heat from it ; and is 



CLIMATE. 1 

The access of frost in Autumn, and its recess in the Spring, 
do not seem to depend merely on the degree of cold ; much 
less on the air's being at the freezing point. White frosts are 
frequent when the thermometer is at 47°, have killed young 
plants of Indian corn at 48°, and have been known at 54°. 
Black frost, and even ice, have been produced at 38J°, which 
is 6J degrees above the freezing point. * That other circum- 
stances must be combined with the cold to produce frost, is evi- 
dent from this also, that on the higher parts of mountains, 
where it is absolutely colder than in the plains on which they 
stand, frosts do not appear so early by a considerable space of 
time in Autumn, and go oflf sooner in the Spring, than in the 



therefore considered as a cool clothing. Cotton obstructs still more the passage of 
both fluids, and wool more than cotton : it is called therefore a worse conductor of 
heat, and warmer clothing. Next to this are the furs, and the most impermeable of 
all for heat and air are feathers and down, and especially the down of the Eider 
duck. — (Anas moUissima.) Hence the insensibility to cold of the beasts with shaggy 
hair, or fine fur, and of the birds in proportion as they are provided with down and 
soft feathers : as the swan, goose and duck. 

Among the substances which, as being bad conductors of heat, foment and wp.rm 
the animal body, are the leaves of the EspeletiaFrailexon, a plant newly discovered 
by the great naturalist and traveler Baron Humboldt, on the mountains of South 
America, at the height of 2,450 toises above the sea. These leaves being furnished 
abundantly with a soft down, restore immediately to their due warmth the hands, 
feet, or other members benumbed with cold; and collected as a bed, protect from 
death the Indian benighted in those regions of extreme cold. The same scientific 
ti'aveler, by analysis of the air, at different heights on the mountain of Chimborazo 
which he ascended to the height of 3,036 toises, (546 toises higher than had ever 
been done by man before, .and within 224 toises of its top) found that the oxygen 
being specifically heavier than the azotic part of the atmosphere, its proportion les- 
sened in that ascent 27 or 28 to 19J hundredth parts. The same circumstance had 
been before observed by Saussure, Pini and Rebout, on the high mountains of Eu- 
rope, and must be among the principal causes of the degree in which the animal body 
is afifected with cold in situations more or less elevated. 

In addition to the effect of vital air, as the vehicle of animal heat, we may note 
that it is also the immediate cause, or primum mobile of life. For, entering by res- 
piration into the air-cells of the lungs, divided from those of the blood but by a thin 
membrane, it infuses through that a stimulus into the blood, which, acting on the 
irritable fibres of the heart, excites mechanically the action and reaction of that 
muscle. By these the blood is propelled, and received again in a course of constant 
circulation and vital action communicated and maintained through all the system. 
Intercept vital air from the lungs, the action of the heart ceases for want of sti- 
mulus, the current of the blood, unaided, yields to the resistance of its channels, 
all the vital motions are suspended, and the body becomes an inanimated lump of 
matter. 

* Mueschenb. has seen ice produced at 41°. — 2. Muss., 1,507. 



88 CLIMATE. 

plains. I have known frosts so severe as to kill the hiccorj 
trees round about Monticello, and yet not injure the tender 
fruit blossoms then in bloom on the top and higher parts of the 
mountain ; and, in the course of 40 years, during which it has 
been settled, there have been but two instances of a general 
loss of fruit on it; while, in the circumjacent country, the 
fruit has escaped but twice in the last seven years. The 
plants of tobacco, which grow from the roots of those which 
have been cut off in the Summer, are frequently green here at 
Christmas. This privilege against the frost is undoubtedly 
combined with the want of dew on the mountains. That the 
dew is very rare on their higher parts I may say with cer- 
tainty, from 12 years observations, having seldom, during that 
time, seen them at Monticello during Summer. Severe frosts 
in the depth of Winter prove that the region of dews extends 
higher in that season than the tops of the mountains ; but cer- 
tainly, in the Summer season, the vapors, by the time they 
attain that height, are become so attenuated as not to subside 
and form a dew when the sun retires. 

The weavil has not yet ascended the high mountains. 

A more satisfactory estimate of our climate to some may 
perhaps be formed, by noting the plants which grow here, sub- 
j'ect, however, to be killed by our severest colds. These are 
the fig, pomegranate, artichoke, and European walnut. In 
mild "Winters lettuce and endive require no shelter ; but gene- 
rally they need a slight covering. I do not know that the 
want of long moss, reed, myrtle, swamp laurel, holly and 
cypress, in the upper country, proceeds from a greater degree 
of cold, nor that they were ever killed with any degree of cold 
in the lower country. The aloe lived in Williamsburgh in the 
open air through the severe Winter of 1779, 1780. 

A change in our climate, however, is taking place very sen- 
sibly. Both heats and colds are become much more moderate 
within the memory even of the middle-aged. Snows are less 
frequent and less deep. They do not often lie below the moun- 
tains more than one, two or three days, and very rarely a 
week. They are remembered to have been formerly frequent. 



CLIMATE, 89 

deep, and of long continuance. The elderly inform me the 
earth used to be covered with snow about three months in 
every year. The rivers, which then seldom failed to freeze 
over in the course of the Winter, scarcely ever do so now. 
This change has produced an unfortunate fluctuation between 
heat and cold, in the Spring of the year, which is very fatal 
to fruits. From the year 1741 to 1769, an interval of twenty- 
eight years, there was no instance of fruit killed by the frost 
in the neighborhood of Monticello. An intense cold, produced 
by constant snows, kept the buds locked up till the sun could 
obtain, in the Spring of the year, so fixed an ascendancy as to 
dissolve those snows, and protect the buds, during their de- 
velopment, from every danger of returning cold. The accu- 
mulated snows of the Winter remaining to be dissolved all to- 
gether in the Spring, produced those overflowings of our 
rivers, so frequent then, and so rare now. 

Having had occasion to mention the particular situation of 
Monticello for other purposes, I will just take notice that its 
elevation aifords an opportunity of seeing a phenomenon 
which is rare at land, though frequent at sea. The seamen 
call it looming. Philosophy is as yet in the rear of the sea- 
men, for so far from having accounted for it, she has not given 
it a name. Its principal efi'ect is to make distant objects ap- 
pear larger, in opposition to the general law of vision, by 
which they are diminished.* I knew an instance, at York 
Town, from whence the water prospect eastwardly is without 
termination, wherein a canoe with three men, at a great dis- 
tance, was taken for a ship with its three masts. I am little 
acquainted with the phenomenon as it shews itself at sea ; but 
at Monticello it is familiar. There is a solitary mountain 
about 40 miles off, in the South, whose natural shape, as pre- 
sented to view there, is a regular cone ; but, by the effect of 
looming, it sometimes subsides almost totally into the horizon ; 

* Dr. Shaw in his physical observations on Syria, speaking of the easterly winds, 
called by seamen Levanters, says " We are likewise to observe further with regardl 
to these strong easterly winds, that vessels, or any other objects which are seen ai 
a distance, appear to be vastly naagnified, or loom, according to the mariners ex- 
pression." — Shaw's travels, 362. 



90 CLIMATE — POPULATION. 

sometimes it rises more acute and more elevated ; sometimes it 
is hemispherical ; and sometimes its sides are perpendicular, 
its top flat, and as broad as its base. In short, it assumes at 
times the most whimsical shapes, and all these perhaps succes- 
sively in the same morning. The Blue Ridge of mountains 
comes into view, in the Northeast, at about 100 miles distance, 
and, approaching in a direct line, passes by within 20 miles, 
and goes off to the Southwest. This phenomenon begins to 
shew itself on these mountains, at about 50 miles distance, and 
continues beyond that as far as they are seen. I remark no 
particular state, either in the weight, moisture, or heat of the 
atmosphere, necessary to produce this. The only constant 
circumstances are, its appearance in the morning only, and on 
objects at least 40 or 50 miles distant. In this latter circum- 
stance, if not in both, it differs from the looming on the water. 
Refraction will not account for this metamorphosis. That only 
changes the proportions of length and breadth, base and alti- 
tude, preserving the general outlines. Thus it may make a 
circle appear elliptical, raise or depress a cone, but by none of 
its laws, as yet developed, will it make a circle appear a square, 
or a cone a sphere. 



QUERY VIII. 



THE NUMBER OF ITS INHABITANTS i 

The following table shows the number of persons imported 
for the establishment of our colony in its infant state, and the 
census of inhabitants at different periods, extracted from our 
historians and public records, as particularly as I have had op- 
portunities and leisure to examine them. Successive lines in 
the same year shew successive periods of time in that year. I 



POPULATION. 



91 



have stated the census in two different columns, the whole in- 
habitants having been sometimes numbered, and sometimes the 
tythes only. This term, with us, includes the free males above 
16 years of age, and slaves above that age of both sexes. A 
further examination of our records would render this history of 
our population much more satisfactory and perfect, by furnish- 
ing a greater number of intermediate terms : 



Years. 


Settlers im- 


Census of 


Census of 


Years. 
1618 


Settlers im- 


Census of 


Census of 


ported. 


Inhabitants. 


Tythes. 


ported. 


Inhabit'ts. 


Tythes. 


1607 


100 


■ 






600 








40 




1619 


1216 








120 






1621 


1300 






1608 


70 


130 




1622 




3800 
2500 




1609 


16 


490 
60 




1628 
1632 
1644 




3000 


2000 
4822 


1610 


150 


200 




1645 
1652 






5000 
7000 


1611 


3 ship loads 
300 






1654 
1700 






7209 
22,000 


1612 


80 






1748 






82,100 


1617 




400 




1759 






105,000 


1618 


200 
40 






1772 

1782 




567,614 


153,000 



1756 173,316 inhabitants. 

1764 200,000 

1774 300,000 

[See Boston Patriot, Sept. 16, 1809.] Pounal's authority quoted in J. Adams' 
17th letter. 



Those, however, which are here stated, will enable us to cal- 
culate, with a considerable degree of precision, the rate at 
which we have increased. During the infancy of the colony, 
while numbers were small, Avars, importations, and other acci- 
dental circumstances render the progression fluctuating and 
irregular. By the year 1654, however, it becomes tolerably 
uniform, importations having in a great measure ceased from 
the dissolution of the company, and the inhabitants become 
too numerous to be sensibly affected by Indian wars. Begin- 
ning at that period, therefore, we find that from thence to the 
year 1772, our tythes had increased from 7209 to 153,000. 
The whole term being of 118 years, yields a duplication once 
in every 27J years. The intermediate enumerations taken in 



92 POPULATION. 

1700, 1748, and 1759, furnish proofs of the uniformity of this 
progression. Should this rate of increase continue, we shall 
have between six and seven millions of inhabitants within 95 
years. If we suppose our country to be bounded, at some fu- 
ture day, by the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanha- 
way, (within which it has been before conjectured, are 64,491 
square miles,) there will then be 100 inhabitants for every 
square mile, which is nearly the state of population in the 
British islands. 

Here I will beg leave to propose a doubt. The present de- 
sire of America is to produce rapid population by as great im- 
portations of foreigners as possible. But is this founded in 
good policy ? The advantage proposed is the multiplication of 
numbers. Now let us suppose (for example only) that in this 
State we could double our numbers in one year by the importa- 
tion of foreigners ; and this is a greater accession than the most 
sanguine advocate for emigration has a right to expect. Then 
I say, beginning with a double stock, we shall attain any given 
degree of population only 27 years and 3 months sooner than 
if we proceed on our single stock. If we propose four millions 
and a half as a competent population for this State, we should 
be 54J years attaining it, could we at once double our num- 
bers ; and 81| years, if we rely on natural propagation, as may 
be seen by the following table : 





Proceeding on 
our present stock. 


Proceeding on 
a double stock. 


1781 

1808i 
18351 
18621 


567,614 
1,135,228 
2,270,456 
4,450,912 


1,135,228 
2,270,456 
4,540,912 



In the first column are stated periods of 27|- years ; in the 
second are our numbers, at each period, as they will be if we 
proceed on our actual stock ; and in the third are what they 
would be, at the same periods, were we to set out from the 
double of our present stock. I have taken the term of four 
millions and a half of inhabitants for example's sake only. 
Yet I am persuaded it is a greater number than the country 



POPULATION. 93 

spoken of, considering how much inarable land it contains, 
can clothe and feed, without a material change in the quality 
of their diet. But are there no inconveniences to be thrown 
into the scale against the advantage expected from a multipli- 
cation of numbers by the importation of foreigners ? It is for 
the happiness of those united in society to harmonize as much 
as possible in matters which they must of necessity transact 
together. Civil government being the sole object of forming 
societies, its administration must be conducted by common 
consent. Every species of government has its specific prin- 
ciples. Ours perhaps are more peculiar than those of any 
other in the universe. It is a composition of the freest prin- 
ciples of the English coTnstitution, with others derived from 
natural right and natural reason. To these nothing can be 
more opposed than the maxims of absolute monarchies. Yet, 
from such, we are to expect the greatest number of emigrants. 
They will bring with them the principles of the governments 
they leave, imbibed in their early youth ; or, if able to throw 
them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentious- 
ness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It 
would be a miracje were they to stop precisely at the point of 
temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they 
will transmit to their children. In proportion to their num- 
bers, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse 
into it their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and render it a 
heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. • I may appeal to 
experience, during the present contest, for a verification of 
these conjectures. But, if they be not certain in event, are 
they not possible, are they not probable ? Is it not safer to 
wait with patience 27 years and 3 months longer, for the 
attainment of any degree of population desired, or expected? 
May not our government be more homogeneous, more peace- 
able, more durable ? Suppose 20 millions of Kepublican Ame- 
ricans thrown all of a sudden into France, what would be the 
condition of that kingdopi ? If it would be more turbulent, 
less happy, less strong, we may believe that the addition of 
half a million of foreigners to our present numbers would pro- 



94 POPULATION. 

duce a similar effect liere. If they come of themselves, they 
are entitled to all the rights of citizenship ; but I doubt the 
expediency of inviting them by extraordinary encouragements. 
I mean not that these doubts should be extended to the impor- 
tation of useful artificers. The policy of that measure depends 
on very different considerations. Spare no expense in obtain- 
ing them. They will after a while go to the plough and the 
hoe ; but, in the mean time, they will teach us something we 
do not know. It is not so in agriculture. The indifferent state 
of that among us does not proceed from a want of knowledge 
merely ; it is from our having such quantities of land to waste 
as we please. In Europe the object is to make the most of 
their land, labor being abundant : here it is to make the most 
of our labor, land being abundant. 

It will be proper to explain how the numbers for the year 
1782 have been obtained ; as it was not from a perfect census 
of the inhabitants. It will at the same time develope the pro- 
portion between the free inhabitants and slaves. The follow- 
ing return of taxable articles for that year was given in : 
53,289 free males above 21 years of age. 

211,698 slaves of all ages and sexes. 
23,766 not distinguished in the returns, but said to be 
titheable slaves. ' 

195,489 horses. 

609,734 cattle. 

5,126 wheels-of riding carriages. 
191 taverns. 

There were no returns from the 8 counties of Lincoln, Jeffer- 
son, Fayette, Monongalia, Yohogania, Ohio, Northampton, 
and York. To find the number of slaves which should have 
been returned instead of the 28,766 titheables, we must men- 
tion that some observations on a former census had given rea- 
son to believe that the numbers above and below 16 years of 
age were equal. The double of this number, therefore, to wit, 
47,582 must be added to 211,698, which will give us 259,230 
slaves of all ages and sexes. To find the number of free in- 
habitants, we must repeat the observation, that those above 



POPULATION. 95 

and below 16 are nearly equal. But as the number 53,289 
omits the males between 16 and 21, we must supply them from 
conjecture. On a former experiment it had appeared that 
about one-third of our militia, that is, of the males between 
16 and 50, were unmarried. Knowing how early marriage 
takes place here, we shall not be far wrong in supposing that 
the unmarried part of our militia are those between 16 and 21. 
If there be young men who do not marry till after 21, there 
are as many who marry before that age. But as the men 
above 50 were not included in the militia, we will suppose the 
unmarried, or those between 16 and 21, to be one-fourth of the 
whole number above 16, then we have the following calculation : 

53,289 free males above 21 years of age. 

17,763 free males between 16 and 21. 

71,052 free males under 16. 
142,104 free females of all ages. 



284,208 free inhabitants of all ages. 
259,230 slaves of all ages. 



543,438 inhabitants, exclusive of the 8 counties from which 
were no returns. In these 8 counties in the years 1779 and 
1780 were 3,161 militia. Say then, 

3,161 free males above the age of 16. 

3,161 ditto under 16. 

6,322 free females. 



12,644 free inhabitants in these 8 counties. To find the 
number of slaves, say, as 284,208 to 259,230, so is the 12,644 
to 11,532. Adding the third of these numbers to the first, and 
the fourth to the second, we have, 

296,852 free inhabitants. 

270,762 slaves. 



567,614 inhabitants of every age, sex, and condition. But 
296,852, the number of free inhabitants, are to 270,762, the 
number of slaves, nearly as 11 to 10. Under the mild treat- 
ment our slaves experience, and their wholesome, though 
coarse food, this blot in our country increases as fast, or faster, 



96 POPULATION — MILITAKY. 

than the whites. During the regal government, we had at one 
time obtained a law, which imposed such a duty on the impor- 
tation of slaves as amounted nearly to a prohibition, when one 
inconsiderate assembly, placed under a peculiarity of circum- 
stance, repealed the law. This repeal met a joyful sanction 
from the then sovereign, and no devices, no expedients which 
could ever after be attempted by subsequent assemblies, and 
they seldom met without attempting them, could succeed in get- 
ting the royal assent to a renewal of the duty. In the very 
first session held under the Republican Government, the assem- 
bly passed a law for the perpetual prohibition of the importa- 
tion of slaves. This will, in some measure, stop the increase 
of this great political and moral evil, while the minds of our 
citizens may be ripening for a complete emancipation of human 
nature. * 



QUEKY IX. 



THE NUMBER AND CONDITION OF THE MILITIA AND REGULAR 
TROOPS, AND THEIR PAY ? 

The following is a state of the militia, taken from returns of 
1780 and 1781, except in those counties marked with an aste- 
risk, the returns from which are somewhat older. 



* The first settlement of Europeans in America was by the Spaniards in St. Do- 
mingo in 1493. So early as 1501 we find they had already got into the habit of 
carrying the negroes there as slaves, and in 1503 they had become so inconvenient, 
that Ovando, the Governor, put a stop to their importation. Herrera. Dec. 1, B. 2, 
ch. 10; B. 4. eh. 12; B. 5, ch. 12 ; but in 1511 they were again fully in the same 
habit. The king's instructions at that date were " Que se buscasse forma como se 
Uevassen muchos negros de Guinea, porque era mas util el trabajo de un negro, que 
de quatro Indios. — ^Herrera. Dec. 1, L. 9, c. 5 ; Dec. 2, L. 2, c. 8, 20. 



MILITARY. 



97 



Situa- 














tion. 


Counties. 


Militia. 


Situation. 


Counties. 


Militia. 


i 


Lincoln, 


600 




o 


Greenesville, 


500 


^ 


Jefferson, 


300 




n 

O 


Dinwiddle, 


*750 


» CO 


Fayette, 


156 




13 

a 


Chesterfield, 


655 




Ohio, 








Prince George, 


382 


^i. 


Monongalia, 


*1000 




> 25 
"5 0» 


Surry, 


380 




Washington, 


*829 




tl i 


Sussex, 


*700 


0) 


Montgomery, 


1071 




i ^ 

9 S 


Southampton, 


874 


^ 


Greenbriar, 


502 






Isle of Wight, 


*600 


S'K 


Hampshire, 


930 




a 

o 


Nansemond, 


*644 




Berkeley, 


moo 


N 


_g 


Norfolk, 


*880 


s 1 


Frederick, 


1143 


35 




Princess Anne, 


*594 




Shenando, 


*925 


7 


.M 


Henrico, 


619 


|2 - 


Rockingham, 


875 


63 


o 


Hanover, 


796 


§1 


Augusta, 


1375 


u3 


New Kent, 


*418 


|M 


Rockbridge, 


*625 






Charles City, 


286 


11 . 


Botetourt, 


*700 


11. 




James City, 


235 




Loudoun, 


1746 


< 


1^ 2 


Williamsburg, 


129 




Fauquier, 


1078 


S 

K 


i« 


York, 


*244 




Culpeper, 


1513 


^ 




Warwick, 


noo 


CO 


Spotsylvania, 


480 


IZ 




Elizabeth City, 


182 


CO 

co~ 


Orange, 


*600 


so 


s 1 


Caroline, 


805 


7 


Louisa, 


603 


E- 


^l 


King William, 


436 


1 

u 


Goochland, 


*550 




II ^ 


King and Queen, 


500 


H 


Fluvanna, 


*296 


S3 


^■3 


Essex, 


468 


^ 


Albemarle, 


873 






iMiddlesex, 


*210 


r2 


Amherst, 


896 


S3 




Gloucester, 


850 


H 


Buckingham, 


*625 


Z 


oS; ( 


Fairfax, 


652 




Bedford, 


1300 


o 




Prince William, 


614 


o 

to 


Henry, 


1004 




-§ 1 


Stafford, 


*500 


^3 


Pittsylvania, 


*725 




=2 3 


King George, 


483 


<D 


Halifax, 


*1139 




Pig ^ 

C3 ^ 


Richmond, 


412 


n 


Charlotte, 


612 




il 


Westmoreland, 


544 




Prince Edw'd, 


589 




"S'3 


Northumberl'nd, 


630 


fl 


Cumberland, 


408 




Mi 


Lancaster, 


302 




Powhatan, 
Amelia, 


330 

ni25 






Accomac, 
Northampton, 


*1208 
*430 


Lunenburg, 
IMecklenburg, 


677 
1100 










V 


^^hole Militia of the State, 


49,971 




Brunswic, 


559 









See Topographical Analysis in App. IV. 

Every able-bodied freeman, between the ages of 16 and 50, 
is enrolled in the militia. Those of every county are formed 
into companies, and these again into one or more battalions, 
according to the numbers in the county. They are commanded 

7 



08 MILITARY — MARINE. 

by Colonels, and other subordinate officers, as in the regular 
service. In every county is a County-Lieutenant, who commands 
the whole Militia of his county, but ranks only as a Colonel in 
the field. We have no general officers always existing. These 
are appointed occasionally, when an invasion or insurrection 
happens, and their commission determines with the occasion. 
The Governor is head of the military, as well as civil power. 
The law requires every Militia-man to provide himself with the 
arms usual in the regular service. But this injunction was 
always indifferently complied with, and the arms they had have 
been so frequently called for to arm the Regulars that in the 
lower parts of the country they are entirely disarmed. In the 
middle country a fourth or fifth part of them may have such 
firelocks as they had provided to destroy the noxious animals 
which infest their farms ; and on the western side of the Blue 
Ridge they are generally armed with rifles. The pay of our 
Militia, as well as of our Regulars, is that of the Continental 
Regulars. The condition of our Regulars, of whom we have 
none but Continentals, and part of a battalion of State troops, 
is so constantly on the change that a state of it at this day 
would not be its state a month hence. It is much the same 
with the condition of the other Continental troops, which is 
well enough known. 



QUEKT X 



THE MARINE? 

Before the present invasion of this State by the British 
under the command of General Phillips, we had three vessels 
of 16 guns, one of 14, five small galleys, and two or three 



MARINE — ^ABORIGINES. 99 

armed boats. They were generally so badly manned as seldom 
to be in condition for service. Since the perfect possession of 
our rivers assumed by the enemy, I believe we are left with a 
single armed boat only. 



QUEET XI. 



A DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIANS ESTABLISHED IN THAT STATE ? 

When the first effectual settlement of our Colony was made, 
which was in 1607, the country from the sea-coast to the moun- 
tains, and from Patowmac to the most southern waters of James 
River, was occupied by upwards of forty different tribes of In- 
dians. Of these the Pozvhatans, the Mannahoacs, and Mona- 
cans, were the most powerful. Those between the sea-coast 
and falls of the rivers, were in amity with one another, and 
attached to the Powhatans as their link of union. Those be- 
tween the falls of the rivers and the mountains, were divided 
into two confederacies ; the tribes inhabiting the head waters 
of Patowmac and Rappahanoc being attached to the Manna- 
hoacs, and those on the upper parts of James River to the 
Monacans. But the Monacans and their friends were in amity 
with the Mannalioacs and their friends, and waged joint and 
perpetual war against the Powhatans. We are told that the 
Powhatans, Mannahoacs, and Monacans, spoke languages so 
radically different that interpreters were necessary when they 
transacted business. Hence we may conjecture that this was 
not the case between all the tribes, and probably that each 
spoke the language of the nation to which it was attached, 
which we know to have been the case in many particular 
instances. Very possibly there may have been anciently three 



100 ABORIGINES. 

different stocks, each of which multiplying in a long course of 
time, had separated into so many little societies. This practice 
results from the circumstance of their having never submitted 
themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of 
government. Th^ir only controls are their manners, and that 
moral sense of right and wrong which, like the sense of tasting 
and feeling, in every man makes a part of his nature. An 
offence against these is punished by contempt, by exclusion 
from society, or, where the case is serious, as that of murder, 
by the individuals whom it concerns. Imperfect as this species 
of coercion may seem, crimes are very rare among them : inso- 
much that were it made a question, whether no law, as among 
the savage Americans, or too much law, as among the civilized 
Europeans, submits man to the greatest evil, one who has seen 
both conditions of existence would pronounce it to be the last, 
and that the sheep are happier of themselves than under 
care of the wolves. It will be said that great societies cannot 
exist without government : the savages, therefore, break them 
into small ones. 

The territories of the Powhatan confederacy south of the 
Patowmac, comprehended about 8,000 square miles, 30 tribes, 
and 2,400 warriors. Capt. Smith tells us, that within 60 miles 
of Jamestown were 5,000 people, of whom 1,500 were warriors. 
From this we find the proportion of their warriors to their 
whole inhabitants, was as 3 to 10. The Poivhatan confederacy, 
then, Would consist of about 8,000 inhabitants, which was one 
for every square mile: being about the twentieth part of our 
present population in the same territory, and the hundredth of 
that of the British Islands. 

Besides these were the Nottoway s, living on Nottoway River, 
the Meherrins and Tuteloes on Meherrin River, who were 
connected with the Indians of Carolina, probably with the 
Chowanocs. 



ABORIGINES, 



101 



EAST 







•X0»BI\[ o 

'xoiBWEddy c-i 

'OOPEZUBM o t! 

'soanEzuEj\[ S ^ 
'aip;aiBK-£ig^ 
'sarioqajBi^ ^^3 
JO aureu Xg ca 






1 °-° 

|l i 
I2I 

o2 = 
2Sr- 




m 

IZ 

< 

< 
X 

O 



C3 


to 

O 


o o o o 


3 O O 


o o in in 







o 
to 


OOO lOOOOOO 




oooooooo 

tOiOTrfOOTTTTC) 


3; m 00 


2S 


o 
£h 

.2 

6 


About General Washington's, 
Patowinac Creek, 
About Lamb Creek, 
Above Lcedstown, 
Noniony River, 
Uappahannoc Creek, 
Moratico River, 
Coan River, 
Wicocomico River, 
Corotoman, 


Port Tobacco Creek, 

Romuncock, 
About Rosewell, 
Turk's Ferry, Grimesby, 


, i 

ca 

illfllli 


Uennuda Hundred, 

About Upper Chipoak, 

Warrasqueac, 

About mouth of West. Branch, 

About Ijyuhaven River, 


il 
=1 

3 
5 

<< 


1 

3 
o 


Fairfax, 

Stafibrd, King George, 

King George, 

King George, Richmond, 

Westmoreland, 

Richmond county, 

Lancaster, Richmond, 

Northumberland, 

Northumberland, 

Lancaster, 


Essex, Carol hie, 
Mattapony River, 
King Wilhain, 
Gloucester, 
Piankatank River, 


Pamunky Rive# 

Chickaliominy River, 

Henrico, 

Henrico, 

Charles City, 

Charles City, James City, 

York, 

Elizabeth City, 


Chesterfield, 

Surry, 

Isle of Wight, 

Nansamond, 

Princess Anne, 




n. 

^£ 

if 
c -5 

t 
<2 


1 


-S3 Ss§,-S3 
^ 0) o -3 9 n .2 5 G 

gg5|£fEf|8£ 

3°- K g SS g.M- 

Eh a- o a. O ci g rr. 5 Z.- 


Nantaughtaeunds, 

Mattapoments, 

Painunkies, 

Werowocomicos, 

Payankatanks, 


Youghtaimnds, 

Chickahominies, 

Powhatans, 

Anowhatocs, 

Weanocs, 

Paspaheghes, 

Chiskiacs, 

Kecoughtans, 


Appaniattocs, 

auiocohanocs, 

Warrasqeaks, 

Nansamonds, 

Chesapeaks, 


if 




CQ 
O 

< 

o 

< 

< 


2 


CO 
CO 






02 
IZ 
< 

< 

o 


" 1 1 


ca 

is 


o 

CO 






1 1 


1 

6 






1-5 

t- iT 

og 

I"" 

fa 






c 

3 
O 

O 


Fauquier, 

Culpeper, 

Orange, 

Fauquier, 

Culpeper, 


Orange, 
Spotsylvania, 
Stafford, Spot- 
sylvania, 


James River 
above Falls, 

Louisa, Flu- 
vanna, 


Bedford, Buck- 
ingham, 
Cumberland, 
Powhatan, 






Whonkenties, 

Tegninaties, 

Ontponies, 

Tauxitanians, 

Hassinungaes, 


.2 11 

111 
2 2 J3 


Monacans, 

Monasiccapa- 
noes. 


Monahassa- 

noes, 
Massiiiacacs, 
Mohemench- 

oes. 




1 


•aouBqBddBa 1 '^ijoa •^S 
ig OEUiAvoiBj UjA\j3g|-dBa Ujiag 


■satuEf 
,5j i[ioA uaaAuaa 


•BUlIilBO^ 

•SEf Uijag 


■ajoiig 
UiJSBa 



xsaAi 



102 , ABORIGINES. 

The preceding table contains a state of these several tribes, 
according to their confederacies and geographical situation, 
with their numbers when we first became acquainted with them, 
where these numbers are known. The numbers of some of 
them are again stated as they were in the year 1669, when an 
attempt was made by the assembly to enumerate them. Pro- 
bably the enumeration is imperfect, and in some measure con- 
jectural, and that a further search into the records would fur- 
nish many more particulars. What would be the melancholy 
sequel of their history may however be augured from the cen- 
sus of 1669 ; by which we discover that the tribes therein enu- 
merated were, in the space of 62 years, reduced to about one- 
third of their former numbers. Spirituous liquors, the small 
pox, war, and an abridgment of territory, to a people who 
lived principally on the spontaneous productions of Nature, 
had committed terrible havoc among them, which generation, 
under the obstacles opposed to it among them, was not likely 
to make good. That the lands of this country were taken 
from them by conquest, is not so general a truth as is supposed. 
I find in our historians and records repeated proofs of pur- 
chase, which cover a considerable part of the lower country ; 
and many more would doubtless be found on further search. 
The upper country we know has been acquired altogether by 
purchases made in the most unexceptionable form. 

Westward of all these tribes, beyond the mountains, and ex- 
tending to the great lakes, were the Massawomecs, a most 
powerful confederacy, who harrassed unremittingly the Pozv- 
Jiatans and Manalioacs. These were probably the ancestors 
of the tribes known at present by the name of the Six Nations. 

Very little can now be discovered of the subsequent history 
of these tribes severally. The CJiicTcahominies removed, about 
the year 1661, to Mattapony River. Their chief, with one 
from each of the tribes of the Pamunkies and Mattaponies, 
attended the treaty of Albany in 1685. This Seems to have 
iDeen the last chapter in their history. They retained however 
their separate name so late as 1705, and were at length blended 
-with the Pamunkies and Mattaponies, and exist at present only 



ABORIGINES. 103 

under their names. There remain of the Mattaponies three or 
four men only, and they have more negro than Indian blood in 
them. They have lost their language, have reduced themselves 
by voluntary sales to about fifty acres of land, which lie on the 
river of their own name, and have, from time to time, been 
joining the Pamunkies, from whom they are distant but 10 
miles. The Pamunkies are reduced to about 10 or 12 men, 
tolerably pure from mixture with other colors. The older ones 
among them preserve their language in a small degree, which 
are the last vestiges on earth, as far as we know, of the Pow- 
hatan language. They have about 300 acres of very fertile 
land, on Pamunkey River, so encompassed by water that a gate 
shuts in the whole. Of the Nottoivays, not a male is left. A 
few women constitute the remains of that tribe. They are 
seated on Nottoway River, in Southampton county, on very 
fertile lands. At a very early period, certain lands were 
marked out and appropriated to these tribes, and were kept 
from encroachment by the authority of the laws. They have 
usually had trustees appointed, whose duty was to watch over 
their interests, and guard them from insult and injury. 

The Monacmis and their friends, better known latterly by 
the name of Tuscaroras, were probably connected with the 
Massawomecs, or Five Nations. For though we are told * 
their languages were so different that the intervention of in- 
terpreters was necessary between them, yet do we also learn t 
that the Erigas, a nation formerly inhabiting on the Ohio, 
were of the same original stock with the Five Nations, and 
that they partook also of the Tuscarora language. Their dia- 
lects might, by long separation, have become so unlike as to be 
unintelligible to one another. We know that in 1712 the 
Five Nations received the Tuscaroras into their confederacy, 
and made them the Sixth Nation. They received the Meher- 
rins and Tuteloes also into their protection ; and it is most pro- 
bable that the remains of many other of the tribes, of whom 
we find no particular account, retired westwardly in like man- 

* Smith. t Evans. ^ 



104 ABORIGINES. 

ner, and were incorporated with one or other of the Western 
tribes. * (5.) 

I know of no such thing existing as an Indian Monument ; 
for I would not honor with that name arrow points, stone 
hatchets, stone pipes, and half-shapen images. Of labor on 
the large scale, I think there is no remain as respectable as 
would be a common ditch for the draining of lands, unless 
indeed it be the Barrows, of which many are to be found all 
over this country. These are of different sizes, some of them 
constructed of earth, and some of loose stones. That they 
were repositories of the dead has been obvious to all ; but on 
what particular occasion constructed was matter of doubt. 
Some have thought they covered the bones of those who have 
fallen in battles fought on the spot of interment. Some 
ascribed them to the custom, said to prevail among the Indians, 
of collecting, at certain periods, the bones of all their dead, 
wheresoever deposited at the time of death. Others again 
supposed them the general sepulchres for towns, conjectured to 
have been on or near these grounds ; and this opinion was sup- 
ported by the quality of the lands in which they are found, 
(those constructed of earth being generally in the softest and 
most fertile meadow-grounds on river sides) and by a tradition, 
said to be handed down from the Aboriginal Indians, that, 
when they settled in a town, the first person who died was 
placed erect, and earth put about him, so as to cover and sup- 
port him ; that, when another died, a narrow passage was dug 
to the first, the second reclined against him, and the cover of 
earth replaced, and so on. There being one of these in my 
neighborhood, I wished to satisfy myself whether any, and 
which of these opinions were just. For this purpose I deter- 
mined to open and examine it thoroughly. It was situated on 
the low grounds of the Rivanna, about two miles above its 
principal fork, and opposite to some hills, on which had been 
an Indian town. It was of a spheroidical form, of about 40 
feet diameter at the base, and had been of about twelve feet 

•■■■ See Maps No. 3, 4, Appendix iv., left by the author with the notes for the pre- 
ftnt edition, and. apparently intended for this portion of it. 



ABORIGINES. 105 

altitude, though now reduced by the plough to seven and a 
half, having been under cultivation about a dozen years. Be- 
fore this it was covered with trees of twelve inches diameter, 
and round the base was an excavation of five feet depth and 
width, from whence the earth had been taken of which the hil- 
lock was formed. I first dug superficially in several parts of 
it, and came to collections of human bones, at different depths,. 
from six inches to three feet below the surface. These were 
lying in the utmost confusion, some vertical, some oblique,, 
some horizontal, and directed to every point of the compass, 
entangled, and held together in clusters by the earth. Bones 
of the most distant parts were found together, as, for instance, 
the small bones of the foot in the hollow of a scull, many 
sculls would sometimes be in contact, lying on the face, on the 
side, on the back, top or bottom, so as on the whole to give 
the idea of bones emptied promiscuously from a bag or basket, 
and covered over with earth, without any attention to their 
order. The bones of which the greatest numbers remained 
were sculls, jaw bones, teeth, the bones of the arms, thighs, 
legs, feet, and hands. A few ribs remained, some vertebrse 
of the neck and spine, without their processes, and one instance 
only of the bone * which serves as a base to the vertebral co- 
lumn. The sculls were so tender, that they generally fell to 
pieces on being touched. The other bones were stronger. 
There were some teeth which were judged to be smaller than 
those of an adult ; a scull, which, on a slight view, appeared 
to be that of an infant, but it fell to pieces on being taken 
out, so as to prevent satisfactory examination ; a rib, and a 
fragment of the under jaw of a person about half grown ; 
another rib of an infant, and part of the jaw of a child, 
which had not yet cut its teeth. This last furnishing the 
most decisive proof of the burial of children here, I was par- 
ticular in my attention to it. It was part of the right half of 
the under jaw. The processes, by which it was articulated to 
the temporal bones, were entire, and the bone itself firm to 
where it had been broken off, which, as nearly as I could judge, 

* The 08 sacrum. *> 



106 ABORIGINES. 

was about the place of the eye-tooth. Its upper edge, where- 
in would have been the sockets of the teeth, was perfectly 
smooth. Measuring it with that of an adult, by placing their 
hinder processes together, its broken end extended to the 
penultimate grinder of the adult. This bone was white, all 
the others of a sand color. The bones of infants being soft, 
they probably decay sooner, which might be the cause so few 
were found here. I proceeded then to make a perpendicular 
cut through the body of the barrow, that I might examine its 
internal structure. This passed about three feet from its 
centre, was opened to the former sm*face of the earth, and was 
wide enough for a man to walk through and examine its sides. 
At the bottom, that is, on the level of the circumjacent plain, 
I found bones ; above these a few stones, brought from a cliff 
a quarter of a mile off, and from the river one-eighth of a mile 
off; then a large interval of earth, then a stratum of bones, 
and so on. At one end of the section were four strata of 
bones plainly distinguishable ; at the other three ; the strata 
in one part not ranging with those in another. The bones 
nearest the surface were least decayed. No holes were dis- 
covered in any of them, as if made with bullets, arrows, or 
other weapons. I conjectured that in this barrow might have 
been a thousand skeletons. Every one will readily seize the 
circumstances above related, which militate against the opi- 
nion, that it covered the bones only of persons fallen in bat- 
tle ; and against the tradition also, which would make it the 
common sepulchre of a town, in which the bodies were placed 
upright, and touching each other. Appearances certainly in- 
dicate that it has derived both origin and growth from the ac- 
customary collection of bones, and deposition of them together ; 
that the first collection had been deposited on the common sur- 
face of the earth, a few stones put over it, and then a covering 
of earth, that the second had been laid on this, had covered 
more or less of it in proportion to the number of bones, and 
was then also covered with earth, and so on. The following 
are the particular circumstances which give it this aspect: 1. 
The number of bones. 2. Their confused position. 3. Their 



ABORIGINES. 107 

being in different strata. 4. The strata in one part having no 
correspondence with those in another. 5. The different states 
of decay in these strata, which seem to indicate a difference in 
the time of inhumation. 6. The existence of infant bones 
among them. * 

But on whatever occasion they may have been made, they 
are of considerable notoriety among the Indians ; for a party 
passing, about thirty years ago, through the part of the coun- 
try where this barrow is, went through the woods directly to 
it, without any instructions or enquiry, and having staid about 
it some time, with expressions which were construed to be 
those of sorrow, they returned to the high road, which they 
had left about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pur- 
sued their journey. There is another barrow, much resem- 
bling this in the low grounds of the South branch of Shenan- 
doah, where it is crossed by the road leading from the Rock- 
fish Gap to Staunton. Both of these have, within these dozen 
years, been cleared of their trees and put under cultivation, 
are much reduced in their height, and spread in width by the 
plough, and will probably disappear in time. There is another 
on a hill in the Blue Ridge of mountains, a few miles North of 
Wood's Gap, which is made up of small stones thrown toge- 
ther. This has been opened, and found to contain human 
bones, as the others do. There are also many others in other 
parts of the country. 

Great question has arisen from whence came those abori- 
ginal inhabitants of America, f Discoveries, long ago made, 

* The custom of burying the dead in barrows was anciently yery prevalent. 
Homer describes the ceremony of raising one by the Greeks. 

afi^ a/vTtotai 8' ijtiita fiiyav xai anvfiova tvfijSov 
Xivotimv ApysCav tspo; ofpaf 65 alxiJi''>J'ifoiuv, 
axTfrj trCi rtpoixovaTj, crti nXatil '^VKfi^jtovtc^' 
wf xiv "tfiXi^avri^ ix jtovtofiv avSficiatv elrj 
toig, 01, vvv ytydaaty xai ol finfoTttoOsv taovtao. 

And Herodotus 7, IIT, mentions an instance of the same practice in the army of 
Xerxes on the death of Artachasas. 

f In the notes on Virginia, the great diversity of languages appearing radieally 
different, which are spoken by the red men of America, is supposed to authorize a 



108 ABORIGINES. 

were sufficient to shew that a passage from Europe to Ame- 
rica was always practicable, even to the imperfect liavigation 
of ancient times. In going from Norway to Iceland, from 
Iceland to Groenland, from Groenland to Labrador, the first 
traject is the widest ; and this having been practised from the 
earliest times of which we have any account of that part of 
the earth, it is not difficult to suppose that the subsequent 
trajects may have been sometimes passed. Again, the late 
discoveries of Captain Cook, coasting from Kamschatka to 
California, have proved that, if the two continents of Asia 
and America be separated at all, it is only by a narrow 
strait. So that from this side also inhabitants may have 
passed into America ; and the resemblance between the In- 
dians of America and the Eastern inhabitants of Asia would 
induce us to conjecture, that the former are the descendants 
of the latter, or the latter of the former, excepting indeed 
the Eskimaux, who, from the same circumstance of resem- 
blance, and from identity of language, must be derived from 
the Groenlanders, and these probably from some of the North- 
ern parts of the old continent. A knowledge of their several 
languages would be the most certain evidence of their deri- 
vation which could be produced. In fact, it is the best proof 

supposition that their settlement is more remote than that of Asia by its red inha- 
bitants ; but it must be confessed that the mind finds it difficult to conceive that so 
many tribes have inhabited it from so remote an antiquity as would be necessary to 
have divided them into language so radically different. I will therefore hazard a 
conjecture as such, and only to be estimated at what it may be worth. We know 
that the Indians consider it as dishonorable to use any language but their own. 
Hence in their councils with us, though some ef them may have been in situations 
which, from convenience or necessity, have obliged them to learn our language 
well, yet they refuse to confer in it, and always insist on the intervention of an 
intepreter, though he may understand neither language so well as themselves ; and 
this fact is as general as our knowledge of the tribes of North America. "When 
therefore a fraction of a tribe from domestic feuds has broken off from its main 
body, to which it is held by no law or compact, and has gone to another settlement, 
may it not be the point of honor with them not to use the language of those with 
whom they have quarreled, but to have one of their own. They have use but for 
few words, and possess but few. It would require but a small effort of the mind to 
invent these, and to acquire the habit of using them. Perhaps this hypothesis pre- 
sents less difficulty than that of so many radically distinct languages, preserved by 
such handfuls of men, from an antiquity so remote that no data we possess will 
enable us to calculate it. 



ABORIGINES. ' 109 

of the affinity of nations which ever can be referred to. How 
many ages have elapsed since the English, the Dutch, the 
Germans, the Swiss, the Norwegians, Danes and Swedes have 
separated from their common stock? Yet how many more 
must elapse before the proofs of their common origin, which 
exist in their several languages, will disappear ? It is to be 
lamented then, very much to be lamented, that we have suf- 
fered so many of the Indian tribes already to extinguish, with- 
out our having previously collected and deposited in the re- 
cords of literature the general rudiments at least of the lan- 
guages they spoke. Were vocabularies formed of all the lan- 
guages spoken in North and South America, preserving their 
appellations of the most common objects in Nature, of those 
which must be present to every nation, barbarous or civilized, 
with the inflections of their nouns and verbs, their principles 
of regimen and concord, and these deposited in all the public 
libraries, it would furnish opportunities to those skilled in the 
languages of the old world to compare them with these, now, 
or at any future time, and hence to construct the best evidence 
of the derivation of this part of the human race. It will be 
seen that in several of these vocabularies there is a remark- 
able resemblance in the numbers when there is not a trace of 
it in the other parts of the languages. When a tribe has 
gone farther than its neighbors in inventing a system of nu- 
meration, the obvious utility of this will occasion it to be im- 
mediately adopted by the surrounding tribes with only such 
modifications of the sounds as may accommodate them to the 
habitual pronunciations of their own language. 

But imperfect as is our knowledge of the tongues spoken 
in America, it suffices to discover the following remarkable 
fact. * Arranging them under the radical ones to which they 
may be palpably traced, and doing the same by those of the 
red men of Asia, there will be found probably twenty in Ame- 
rica for one in Asia of those radical languages so called, be- 
cause, if they were ever the same, they have lost all resem- 
blance to one another. A separation into dialects may be the 

«Lettere di Amer. Vesp. 81.— lb. 11, 12. 4. Clavigero, 21. 



110 ABORIGINES. 

work of a few ages only, but for two dialects to recede from 
one another till they have lost all vestiges of their common 
origin, must require an immense course of time ; perhaps not 
less than many people give to the age of the earth. A greater 
number of those radical changes of language having taken 
place among the red men of America, proves them of greater 
antiquity than those of Asia. 

I will now proceed to state the nations and numbers of the 
Aborigines which still exist in a respectable and independent 
form. And as their undefined boundaries would render it 
difficult to specify those only which may be within any cer- 
tain limits, and it may not be unacceptable to present a more 
areneral view of them, I will reduce within the form of a cata- 
logue all those within, and circumjacent to, the United States, 
whose names and numbers have come to my notice. These 
are taken from four different lists, the first of which was given 
in the year 1759 to General Stanwix by George Croghan, 
deputy agent for Indian afiairs under Sir William Johnson ; 
the second was drawn up by a French trader of considerable 
note, resident among the Indians many years, and annexed to 
Colonel Bouquet's printed account of his expedition in 1764. 
The third was made out by Captain Hutchins, who visited most 
of the tribes by order, for the purpose of learning their num- 
bers in 1768. And the fourth by John Dodge, an Indian 
trader, in 1779, except the numbers marked *, which arc 
from other information. 



ABORIGINES. 



Ill 



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Northward and Westward of the United States. 



112 



ABORIGINES. 















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ABORIGINES. 



113 







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114 



ABORIGINES. 






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Within the limits of the United States. 



ABORIGINES. 



115 



The following tribes are also mentioned 



fcfi 



o 



1^ 

§ I 



Lezar 

Webings 

Ousasoys ") 
Grand Tuc J 

Linways 

f Les Puans 
1 Folle avoine 
Ouanakina 
Chickanessou 
Machecous 
[ Souikilas 



^ I Mineamis 

^§3 J 

'g I Piankishas ^ 

ft Mascoutins >- 

(^ Vermillions j 



400 

200 

4000 
1000 



From the mouth of Ohio to the 

mouth of AVabash. 
On the Missisipi, below the Sha- 

kies. 
On White Creek, a branch of the 

Missisipi. 
On the Missisipi. 

Near Puans Bay. 
Near Puans Bay. 

Conjectured to be tribes of the 
Creeks. 



{Northwest of L. Michigan, to the 
heads of Missisipi, and up to L. 
Superior. 

) On and near the Wabash, towards 



800 



the Illinois. 



But apprehending these might be different appellations for 
some of the tribes already enumerated, I have not inserted 
them in the table, but state them separately, as worthy of fur- 
ther inquiry. The variations observable in numbering the 
same tribe may sometimes be ascribed to imperfect informa- 
tion, and sometimes to a greater or less comprehension of set- 
tlements under the same name. (7.) 



116 COUNTIES — TOWNS. 



QUEEY XII. 



A NOTICE OF THE COUNTIES, CITIES, TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES ? 

The counties have been enumerated under Query IX. 
They are 74 in number, of very unequal size and population. 
Of these 35 are on the tide waters, or in that parallel; 23 
are in the Midlands, between the tide waters and Blue Ridge 
of mountains ; 8 between the Blue Ridge and Alleghaney ; 
and 8 westward of the Alleghaney. 

The State, by another division, is formed into parishes, 
many of which are commensurate Avith the counties ; but 
sometimes a county comprehends more than one parish, and 
sometimes a parish more than one county. This division 
had relation to the religion of the State, a parson of the 
Anglican Church, with a fixed salary, having been heretofore 
established in each parish. The care of the poor was another 
object of the parochial division. 

' We have no townships. Our country being much inter- 
sected with navigable waters, and trade brought generally to 
our doors, instead of our being obliged to go in quest of it, 
has probably been one of the causes why we have no towns of 
any consequence. Williamsburgh, which, till the year 1780, 
was the seat of our Government, never contained above 1800 
inhabitants ; and Norfolk, the most populous town we ever 
had, contained but 6,000. Our towns, but more properly our 
villages or hamlets, are as follows : 

On James River and its waters, Norfolk, Portsmouth, 
Hampton, SujSblk, Smithfield, Williamsburgh, Petersburgh, 
Richmond, the seat of our Government, Manchester, Char- 
lottesville, New London. 

On York River and its waters, York, Newcastle, Hanover. 



COUNTIES — TOWNS — CONSTITUTION. 117 

On BappaJiannoej Urbanna, Port Royal, Fredericksburg, 
Falmouth. 

On Patowmac and its waters, Dumfries, Colchester, Alex- 
andria, Winchester, Staunton. 

On OJiio^ Louisville. 

There are other places at which, like some of the foregoing, 
the laios have said there shall be towns ; but Nature has said 
there shall not, and they remain unworthy of enumeration. 
Norfolk will probably be the emporium for all the trade of 
the Chesapeak Bay and its waters ; and a canal of 8 or 10 
miles will bring to it all that of Albemarle Sound and its 
waters. Secondary to this place are the towns at the head 
of the tide waters, to wit, Petersburgh, on Appomattox, Rich- 
mond, on James River, Newcastle, on York River, Alexan- 
dria, on Patowmac, and Baltimore, on the Patapsco. From 
these the distribution will be to subordinate situations in the 
country. Accidental circumstances, however, may control 
the indications of Nature, and in no instances do they do it 
more frequently than in the rise and fall of towns. 



QUEKY XIII. 



THE CONSTITUTION OP THE STATE AND ITS SEVERAL CHARTERS ? 

Queen Elizabeth, by her letters patent, bearing date March 
25, 1584, licensed Sir "Walter Raleigh to search for remote 
heathen lands not inhabited by Christian people, and granted 
to him in fee' simple all the soil within 200 leagues of the 
places where his people should within 6 years make their 
dwellings or abidings, reserving only to herself and her suc- 
cessors their allegiance, and one-fifth part of all the gold and 
silver ore, they should obtain. Sir Walter immediately sent 



118 CONSTITUTION. 

out two ships, which visited Wococon Island, in North Caro- 
lina, and the next year dispatched seven, with 107 men, who 
settled in Roanoke Island, about latitude 35° 50'. Here 
Okisko, King of the Weopomeiocs, in a full council of his 
people, is said to have acknowledged himself the homager of 
the Queen of England, and after her of Sir Walter Raleigh. 
A supply of 50 men were sent in 1586, and 150 in 1587. 
With these last Sir Walter sent a Governor, appointed hijn 
twelve assistants, gave them a charter of incorporation, and 
instructed them to settle on Chesapeak Bay. They landed, 
however, at Hatorask. In 1588, when a fleet was ready to 
sail w^ith a new supply of colonists and necessaries, they were 
detained by the Queen, to assist against the Spanish Armada. 
Sir Walter having now expended .£40,000 in these enterprises, 
obstructed occasionally by the crown, without a shilling of aid 
from it, was under a necessity of engaging others to adventure 
their money. He therefore, by deed bearing date the 7th of 
March, 1589, by the name of Sir Walter Raleigh, Chief Go- 
vernor of Assam^comSc, (probably Acomac,) alias Wingada- 
coia, alias Virginia, granted to Thomas Smith and others, in 
consideration of their adventuring certain sums of money, 
liberty of trade to his new country, free from all customs and 
taxes for seven years, excepting the fifth part of the gold and 
silver ore to be obtained ; and stipulated with them, and the 
other assistants then in Virginia, that he would confirm the 
deed of incorporation which he had given in 1587, with all 
the prerogatives, jurisdictions, royalties and privileges granted 
to him by the Queen. Sir Walter, at different times, sent five 
other adventures hither, the last of which was in 1602 ; for 
in 1603 he was attainted, and put into close imprisonment, 
which put an end to his cares over his infant colony. What 
was the particular fate of the colonists he had before sent and 
seated has never been known ; whether they were murdered 
or incorporated with the savages. 

Some gentlemen and merchants, supposing that by the 
■attainder of Sir Walter Raleigh the grant to him was for- 
feited, not enquiring over carefully whether the sentence of 



CONSTITUTION. 119 

an English Court could affect lands not within the jurisdiction 
of that court, petitioned King James for a new grant of Vir- 
ginia to them. He accordingly executed a grant to Sir 
Thomas Gates and others, bearing date the 9th of March, 
1607, under which, in the same year, a settlement was effected 
at James Town, and ever after maintained. Of this grant, 
however, no particular notice need be taken, as it was superse- 
ded by letters patent of the same King, of May 23, 1609, to 
the Earl of Salisbury and others, incorporating them by the 
name of " the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and 
Planters of the City of London for the first Colony in Vir- 
ginia," granting to them and their successors all the lands in 
Virginia from Point Comfort along the sea coast to the north- 
ward 200 miles, and from the same point along the sea coast 
to the southward 200 miles, and all the space from this pre- 
cinct on the sea coast up into the land. West and Northwest, 
from sea to sea, and the islands within one hundred miles of 
it, with all the commodities, jurisdictions, royalties, privileges, 
franchises and pre-eminences within the same, and thereto and 
thereabouts, by sea and land, appertaining, in as ample man- 
ner as had before been granted to any adventurer ; to be held 
of the King and his successors, in common soccage, yielding 
one-fifth part of the gold and silver ore to be therein found, 
for all manner of services ; establishing a council in England 
for the direction of the enterprise, the members of which were 
to be chosen and displaced by the voice of the majority of 
the company and adventurers, and were to have the nomina- 
tion and revocation of governors, officers and ministers, 
which by them should be thought needful for the colony, the 
power of establishing laws, and forms of government, and 
magistracy, obligatory not only within the colony, but also 
on the seas in going, and coming to, and from it ; authorizing 
them to carry thither any persons who should consent to go, 
freeing them forever from all taxes and impositions on any 
goods or merchandize on importation into the colony, or ex- 
portation out of it, except the five per cent, due for custom 
on all goods imported into the British dominions, according to 



120 CONSTITUTION. 

the ancient trade of merchants; which five per cent, only 
being paid, they might, Avithin X3 months, re-export the same 
goods into foreign parts, without any custom, tax, or other 
duty to the King, or any of his officers or deputies ; with 
powers of waging war against those who shoukl annoy them ; 
giving to the inhabitants of the colony all the rights of na- 
tural subjects, as if born and abiding in England ; and de- 
claring that these letters should be construed, in all doubtful 
parts, in such manner as should be most for the benefit of the 
grantees. 

Afterwards, on the 12th of March, 1612, by other letters 
patent, the King added to his former grants all islands in any 
part of the ocean between the 30th and 41st degrees of lati- 
tude, and within 300 leagues of any of the parts before 
granted to the treasurer and company, not being possessed or 
inhabited by any other Christian Prince or State, nor within 
the limits of the Northern colony. 

In pursuance of the authorities given to the company by 
these charters, and more especially of that part in the char- 
ter of 1609, which authorized them to establish a form of 
government, they on the 24th of July, 1621, by charter un- 
der their common seal, declared that from thenceforward there 
should be two supreme councils in Virginia, the one to be 
called the Council of State, to be placed and displaced by 
the treasurer, council in England, and company, from time to 
time, whose office was to be that of assisting and advising 
the Governor ; the other to be called the General Assembly, 
to be convened by the Governor once yearly or oftener, which^ 
was to consist of the Council of State, and two burgesses out 
of every town, hundred, or plantation, to be respectively 
chosen by the inhabitants. In this all matters were to be de- 
cided by the greater part of the votes present, reserving to 
the Governor a negative voice ; and they were to have power 
to treat, consult, and conclude all emergent occasions concern- 
ing the public weal, and to make laws for the behoof and 
government of the colony, imitating and following the laws 
and policy of England as nearly as might be, providing that 



CONSTITUTION. 121 

these laws should have no force till ratified in a general quar- 
ter court of the company in England, and returned under 
their common seal ; and declaring that, after the government 
of the colony should be well framed and settled, no orders of 
the council in England should bind the colony unless ratified 
in the said General Assembly. The King and company 
quarrelled, and, by a mixture of law and force, the latter 
were ousted of all their rights, without retribution, after hav- 
ing expended .£100,000 in establishing the colony, without 
the smallest aid from Government. King James suspended 
their powers by proclamation of July 15, 1624, and Charles 
I. took the Government into his own hands. Both sides had 
their partizans in the colony ; but, in truth, the people of the 
colony in general thought themselves little concerned in the 
dispute. There being three parties interested in these seve- 
ral charters, what passed between the first and second it was 
thought could not afiect the third. If the King seized on the 
powers of the company, they only passed into other hands, 
without increase or diminution, while the rights of the people 
remained as they were. But they did not remain so long. 
The Northern parts of their country were granted away to 
the Lords Baltimore and Fairfax, the first of these obtaining 
also the rights of separate jurisdiction and government. And 
in 1650 the Parliament, considering itself as standing in the 
place of their deposed King, and as having succeeded to all 
his powers, without as well as within the realm, began to 
assume a right over the colonies, passing an act for inhibiting 
their trade with foreign nations. This succession to the exer- 
cise of the kingly authority gave the first color for parliamen- 
tary interference with the colonies, and produced that fatal 
precedent which they continued to follow after they had re- 
tired, in other respects, within their proper functions. When 
this colony, therefore, which still maintained its opposition to 
Cromwell and the Parliament, was induced in 1651 to lay 
down their arms, they previously secured their most essential 
rights, by a solemn convention, which having never seen in 
print, I will here insert literally from the records : 



122 CONSTITUTION. 

"ARTICLES agreed on & concluded at James Cittie in 
* Virginia for the surrendering and settling of that plantation 
' under y obedience & goverment of the common wealth of 
England by the Commissioners of the Councill of state by 
authoritie of the parliamt. of England & by the Grand as- 
sembly of the Governour, Councill & Burgesses of that 
countrey. 

' First it is agreed and consted that the plantation of Vir- 
ginia, and all the inhabitants thereof shall be and remaine 
in due obedience and subjection to the Comon wealth of 
England, according to y lawes there established, and that 
this submission and subscription bee acknowledged a volun- 
tary act not forced nor constrained by a conquest upon the 
countrey, and that they shall have & enjoy such freedomes 
and priviledges as belong to the free borne people of Eng- 
land, and that the former government by the Comissions 
and Instructions be void and null. 

' 21y, Secondly that the Grand assembly as formerly shall 
convene & transact the affairs of Virginia wherein nothing 
is to be acted or done contrarie to the government of the 
Comon wealth of England & the lawes there established. 

' 31y, That there shall be a full & totall remission and in- 
dempnitie of all acts, words, or writeings done or spoken 
against the parliament of England in relation to the same. 

' 41y, That Virginia shall have & enjoy y antient bounds 
and Lymitts granted by the charters of the former kings, 
and that we shall seek a new charter from the parliament to 
that purpose against any that have intrencht upon y rights 
thereof. 

' 51y, That all the pattents of land granted under the 
collony scale by any of the precedent governours shall be & 
remaine in their full force & strength. 

' 61y, That the priviledge of haveing ffiiftie acres of land 
for every person transported in that collonie shall continue as 
formerly granted. 

' 71y, That y people of Virginia have free trade as y people 
^ of England do enjoy to all places and with all nations ac- 



CONSTITUTION. 123 

cording to y lawes of that common wealth, and that Virginia 
shall enjoy all priviledges equall with any English planta- 
tions in America. 

' Sly, That Virginia shall be free from all taxes, customs 
& impositions whatsoever, & none to be imposed on them 
without consent of the Grand assembly. And soe that nei- 
ther ffortes nor castles bee erected or garrisons maintained 
without their consent. 

' 91y, That noe charge shall be required from this country 
in respect of this present ffleet. 

' lOly, That for the future settlement of the countrey in 
their due obedience, the Engagement shall be tendred to all y 
inhabitants according to act of parliament made to that pur- 
pose, that all persons who shall refuse to subscribe the said 
engagement, shall have a yeare's time if they please to re- 
move themselves & their estates out of Virginia, and in the 
mean time during the said yeare to have equall justice as 
formerly. 

' Illy, That y use of the booke of common prayer shall be 
permitted for one yeare ensueinge with referrence to the 
consent of y major part of the parishes, provided that those 
things which relate to kingshipp or that government be not 
used publiquely, and the continuance of ministers in their 
places, they not misdemeaning themselves, and the payment 
of their accustomed dues and agreements made with them 
respectively shall be left as they now stand dureing this 
ensueing yeare. 

' 121y, That no man's cattell shall be questioned as y com- 
panies unles such as have been entrusted with them or have 
disposed of them without order. 

' 131y, That all ammunition, powder & armes, other then 
for private use, shall be delivered up, securitie being given to 
make satisfaction for it. 

' 141y, That all goods allreadie brought hither by y Dutch 
or others which are now on shoar shall be free from sur- 
prizall. 

' 151y, That the quittrents granted unto us by the late 
' kinge for seaven yeares bee confirmed. 



124 CONSTITUTION. 

' 161y, That y commissioners for the parliament subscribe- 
' ing these articles engage themselves & the honour of the 
' parliament for the full performance thereof ; and that the 
' present governour & y councill & the burgesses do likewise 
' subscribe & engage the whole collonj on their parts. 

Rich. Bennett. Scale. 

W"^. Claiborne.— Scale. 

Edmond Curtis. Scale. 

' Theise articles were signed & sealed by the Commission- 
' ers of the Councill of state for the Commonwealth of Eng- 
land the twelveth day of March 1651." 

Then follow the articles stipulated by the Governor and 
Council, which relate merely to their own persons and pro- 
perty, and then the ensuing instrument : 

" An act of indempnitie made att the surrender of the 
' countrey. 

' Whereas by the authoritie of the parliament of England 
' wee the commissioners appointed by the councill of state 

* authorized thereto having brought a fleete & force before 

* James cittie in Virginia to reduce that collonie under the 

* obedience of the commonwealth of England, & findeing force 
' raised by the Governour and countrey to make opposition 

* against the said ffleet whereby assured danger appearinge 

* of the ruine & destruction of y plantation, for prevention 
' whereof the Burgesses of all the severall plantations being 

* called to advise & assist therein, uppon long & serious de- 
' bate, and in sad contemplation of the greate miseries & 

* certaine destruction which were soe neerely hovering over 
' the whole countrey ; Wee the said Comissioners have thought 

* fitt & condescended & granted to signe & confirme under our 
' hands, scales, & by our oath. Articles bearinge date with 

* theise presents, and do further declare that by y authoritie 

* of the parliament & commonwealth of England derived 
*unto us theire Comissioners, that according to the articles 
'in generall wee have granted an act of indempnitie and 

* oblivion to all the inhabitants of this colloney from all 

* words, actions, or writings that have been spoken, acted or 



CONSTITUTION. 125 

' writt against the parliament or commonwealth of England 
' or any other person from the beginning of the world to this 
' daye. And this Avee hav^e done that all the inhabitants of 
' the collonie may live quietly & securely under the comon- 
' wealth of England. And wee do promise that the parlia- 

* ment and commonwealth of England shall confirme & 

* make good all those transactions of ours. Wittnes our 
' hands & scales this 12th of March 1651. Richard Ben- 
' nett — Scale. W"^- Claiborne — Scale. Edm. Curtis — Scale." 

The colony supposed that by this solemn convention, en- 
tered into with arms in their hands, they had secured the 
ancient limits of their country, * its free trade, f its exemp- 
tion from taxation J, but by their own assembly, and exclu- 
sion of military force § from among them. Yet in every of 
these points was this convention violated by subsequent 
kings and parliaments, and other infractions of their con- 
stitution, equally dangerous, committed. Their General As- 
sembly, which was composed of the Council of State and 
Burgesses, sitting together and deciding by plurality of 
voices, was split into two houses, by which the council ob- 
tained a separate negative on their laws. Appeals from 
their Supreme Court, Avhich had been fixed by law in their 
General Assembly, were arbitrarily revoked to England, to 
be there heard before the King and Council. Instead of 
four hundred miles on the sea coast, they were reduced, in 
the space of thirty years, to about one hundred miles. Their 
trade with foreigners was totally suppressed, and when car- 
ried to Great Britain was there loaded with imposts. It 
is unnecessary, however, to glean up the several instances 
of injury, as scattered through American and British his- 
tory, and the more especially as, by passing on to the acces- 
sion of the present King, we shall find specimens of them 
all, aggravated, multiplied and crowded within a^small com- 
pass of time, so aS to evince a fixed design of considering 
our rights natural, conventional and chartered as mere nul- 
lities. The following is an epitome of the first fifteen years 

* Art. 4. t Art. 7. J Art. 8. ? Art. 8. 



126 CONSTITUTION. 

of his reign. The colonies "vvere taxed internally and exter- 
nally; their essential interests sacrificed to individuals in 
Great Britain ; their Legislatures suspended ; charters an- 
nulled ; trials by juries taken away ; their persons subjected 
to transportation across the Atlantic, and to trial before 
foreign judicatories ; their supplications for redress thought 
beneath answer ; themselves published as cowards in the 
councils of their mother country and courts of Europe ; 
armed troops sent among them to enforce submission to 
these violences ; and actual hostilities commenced against 
them. No alternative was presented but resistance, or un- 
conditional submission. Between these could be no hesi- 
tation. They closed in the appeal to arms. They de- 
clared themselves independent States. They confederated 
together into one great Republic ; thus securing to every 
State the benefit of an union of their whole force. In 
each State separately a new form of government was es- 
tablished. Of ours particularly the following are the out- 
lines. The Executive powers are lodged in the hands of a 
Governor, chosen annually, and incapable of acting more 
than three years in seven. He is assisted by a Council of 
eight members. The judiciary powers are divided among 
several courts, as will be hereafter explained. Legislation 
is exercised by two houses of assembly, the one called the 
House of Delegates, composed of two members from each 
county, chosen annually by the citizens possessing an estate 
for life in 100 acres of uninhabited land, or 25 acres with 
a house on it, or in a house or lot in some town : the 
other called the Senate, consisting of 24 members, chosen 
quadrennially by the same electors, who for this pui'pose 
are distributed into 24 districts. The concurrence of both 
houses is .necessary to the passage of a law. They have the 
appointment of the Governor and Council, the Judges of the 
Superior Courts, Auditors, Attorney General, Treasurer, 
Register of the Land Office, and Delegates to Congress. As 
the dismemberment of the State had never had its confirma- 
tion, but, on the contrary, had always been the subject of 



CONSTITUTION. 



127 



protestation and complaint, that it might never be in our own 
power to raise scruples on that subject, or to disturb the 
harmony of our new confederacy, the grants to Maryland, 
Pennsylvania, and the two Carolinas, were ratified. 

This constitution was formed when we were new and un- 
experienced in the science of government. It was the first 
too which was formed in the whole United States. No 
wonder then that time and trial have discovered very capi- 
tal defects in it : 

1. The majority of the men in the State, who pay and 
fight for its support, are unrepresented in the Legislature, 
the roll of freeholders entitled to vote, not including gene- 
rally the half of those on the roll of the militia, or of the 
tax gatherers. 

2. Among those who share the representation, the shares 
are very unequal. Thus the county of Warwick, with only 
one hundred fighting men, has an equal representation with 
the county of Loudon, which ha,s 1746. So that every man 
in Warwick has as much influence in the government as 17 
men in Loudon. But lest it should be thought that an equal 
interspersion of small among large counties, through the 
whole State, may prevent any danger of injury to particular 
parts of it, we will divide it into districts,, and shew the 
proportions of land, of fighting men, and of representation 
in each. 



Between the sea coast and falls \ 
of the rivers - - J 

Between the falls of the rivers \ 
and the Blue Ridge of moun- y 
tains - - - \ 

Between the Blue Ridge and 1 
the Alleghaney - - j 

Between the Alleghaney and | 
Ohio ... I 

Total 



Square 
miles. 


Fighting 
men. 


Delegates. 


Senators. 


*11,205 


19,012 


71 


12 


18,759 


18,828 


46 


8 


11,911 


7,673 


16 


2 


t79,650 


4,458 


16 


2 


121,525 


49,971 


149 


24 



* Of these, 64:2 are on the Eastern Shore. 

j- Of these, 22,616 are Eastward of the meridian of the mouth of the Great 
Kanhaway. 



128 CONSTITUTION. 

An inspection of this table will supply the place of com- 
mentaries on it. It will appear at once that nineteen thou- 
sand men, living below the falls of the rivers, possess half 
the Senate, and want four members only of possessing a 
majority of the House of Delegates ; a want more than sup- 
plied by the vicinity of their situation to the seat of Go- 
vernment, and of course the greater degree of convenience 
and punctuality with which their members may and will at- 
tend in the Legislature. These nineteen thousand, therefore, 
living in one part of the country, give law to upwards of 
thirty thousand, living in another, and appoint all their chief 
officers, executive and judiciary. From the difference of 
their situation and circumstances, their interests will often 
be very different. 

3. The Senate is, by its constitution, too homogeneous with 
the House of Delegates. Being chosen by the same electors, 
at the same time, and out of the same subjects, the choice 
falls of course on men of the same description. The purpose 
of establishing different houses of legislation is to introduce 
the influence of different interests or different principles. 
Thus in Great Britain it is said their constitution relies on 
the House of Commons for honesty, and the Lords for wis- 
dom, which would be a rational reliance if honesty were to be 
be bought with money, and if wisdom were hereditary. In 
some of the American States the delegates and senators are 
so chosen, as that the first represent the persons, and the 
second the property of the State. But with us wealth and 
wisdom have equal chance for admission into both houses. 
We do not therefore derive from the separation of our Legis- 
lature into two houses, those benefits which a proper eompli* 
cation of principles is capable of producing, and those which 
alone can compensate the evils which may be produced by 
their dissensions. 

4. All the powers of Government, legislative, executive 
and judiciary, result to the legislative body. The concentra- 
ting these in the same hands is precisely the definition of des- 
potic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers 



CONSTITUTION. 129 

will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a 
single one. One hundred and seventy-three despots would 
surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it 
turn their eyes on the Republic of Venice. As little will 
it avail us that they are chosen by ourselves. An elec- 
tive despotism was not the government we fought for, but 
one which should not only be founded on free principles, 
but in which the powers of government should be so divided 
and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no 
one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually 
checked and restrained by the others. For this reason that 
convention, which passed the ordinance of government, laid 
its foundation on this basis, that the legislative, executive and 
judiciary departments should be separate and distinct, so that 
no person should exercise the poAvers of more than one of 
them at the same time. But no barrier was provided between 
these several powers. The judiciary and executive members 
were left dependent on the legislative for their subsistence in 
office, and some of them for their continuance in it. If 
therefore the Legislature assumes executive and judiciary 
powers no opposition is likely to be made, nor if made can 
it be effectual, because in that case they may put their pro- 
ceedings into the form of an act of assembly, which will ren- 
der them obligatory on the other branches. They have ac- 
cordingly, in many instances, decided rights which should 
have been left to judiciary controversy ; and the direction of 
the executive, during the whole time of their session, is be- 
coming habitual and familiar. And this is done with no ill 
intention. The views of the present members are perfectly 
upright. When they are led out of their regular province, it 
is by art in others, and inadvertence in themselves. And this 
will probably be the case for some time to come. But it will 
not be a very long time. Mankind soon learn to make in- 
terested uses of every right and power which they possess, or 
may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended 
to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but 
found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon 
9 



130 CONSTITUTION. 

be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those 
who hold them ; distinguished too bj this tempting circum- 
stance, that they are the instrument as well as the object of 
acquisition. With money we will get men, said Csesar, and 
with men we will get money. Nor should our assembly be de- 
luded by the integrity of their own purposes, and conclude 
that these unlimited powers will never be abused, because 
themselves are not disposed to abuse them. They should look 
forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when corruption 
in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will 
hfive seized the heads of government, and be spread by them 
through the body of the people, when they will purchase the 
voices of the people, and make them pay the price. Human 
nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be 
alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard 
against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have got- 
ten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, 
than to trust to draAving his teeth and talons after he shall 
hjave entered. To render these considerations the more co- 
gent, we must observe in addition, 

5. That the ordinary Legislature may alter the constitution 
itself. On the discontinuance of assemblies, it became neces- 
sary to substitute in their place some other body, competent 
to the ordinary business of government, and to the calling 
forth the powers of the State for the maintenance of our oppo- 
sition to Great Britain. Conventions were therefore introduced, 
consisting of two delegates from each county, meeting together 
and forming one house, on the plan of the former house of 
Burgesses, to whose places they succeeded. These were at 
first chosen anew for every particular session. But in March, 
1775, they recommended to the people to choose a convention, 
which should continue in office a year. This was done accordr 
ingly in April, 1775, and in the July following, that convention 
passed an ordinance for the election of delegates in the month 
of April annually. It is well known, that in July, 1775, a 
separation from Great Britain, and establishment of Republi- 
can Government, had never yet entered into any person's 



CONSTITUTIOI'!'. 131 

mind. A convention therefore, chosen under that ordinance, 
cannot be said to have been chosen for purposes which cer- 
tainly did not exist in the minds of those who passed it. Un- 
der this ordinance, at the annual election in April, 1776, a 
convention for the year was chosen. Independence, and the 
establishment of a new form of government, were not even 
yet the objects of the people at large. One extract from the 
pamphlet, called Common Sense, had appeared in th^ Virginia 
papers in February, and copies of the pamphlet itself had got 
into a few hands. But the idea had not been opened to the 
mass of the people in April, much less can it be said that they 
had made up their minds in its favor. So that the electors of 
April, 1776, no more than the legislators of July, 1775, not 
thinking of independence and a permanent Republic, could 
not mean to vest in these delegates powers of establishing 
them, or any authorities other than those of the ordinary Le- 
gislature. So far as a temporary organization of government 
was necessary to render our opposition energetic, so far their 
organization was valid. But they received in their creation 
no powers but what were given to every Legislature before 
and since. They could not therefore pass an act transcendent 
to the powers of other Legislatures. If the present assembly 
pass any act, and declare it shall be irrevocable by subse- 
quent assemblies, the declaration is merely void, and the act 
repealable, as other acts are. So far, and no farther author- 
ized, they organized the government by the ordinance entitled 
a Constitution or Form of Government. It pretends to no 
higher authority than the other ordinances of the same ses- 
sion ; it does not say that it shall be perpetual ; that it shall 
be unalterable by other Legislatures ; that it shall be tran- 
scendent above the powers of those who they knew would 
have equal power with themselves. Not only the silence of 
the instrument is a proof they thought it would be alterable, 
but their own practice also; for this very convention, meet- 
ing as a House of Delegates in General Assembly with the 
new Senate in the Autumn of that year, passed acts of assem- 
bly in contradiction to their ordinance of government; and 



132 CONSTITUTIOIT, 

every assembly from that time to this has done the game. I 
am safe, therefore, in the position that the constitution itself 
is alterable by the ordinary Legislature. Though this opi- 
nion seems founded on the first elements of common sense, 
yet is the contrary maintained by some persons : 1. Because, 
say they, the conventions were vested with every power ne- 
cessary to make efi'ectual opposition to Great Britain. But 
to complete this argument, they must go on, and say further, 
that effectual opposition could not be made to Great Britain 
without establishing a form of government perpetual and un- 
alterable by the Legislature, which is not true. An opposi- 
tion which, at some time or other, was to come to an end, 
could not need a perpetual institution to carry it on ; and a 
government, amendable as its defects should be discovered, 
was as likely to make effectual resistance, as one which should 
be unalterably wrong. Besides, the assemblies were as much 
vested with all powers requisite for resistance as the conven- 
tions were. If, therefore, these powers included that of mo- 
delling the form of government in the one case, they did so 
in the other. The assemblies then, as well as the conventions, 
may model the government ; that is, they may alter the ordi- 
nance of government. 2. They urge that if the convention 
had meant that this instrument should be alterable, as their 
other ordinances were, they would have called it an ordi- 
nance ; but they have called it a constitution, which, ex vi ter- 
mini, means " an act above the power of the ordinary Legis- 
lature." I answer, that constitution constitutuni, statutum, 
lex, are convertible terms. " Constitutio dicitur jus quod a 
principe conditur." " Constitutum, quod ab imperatoribus 
rescriptum statutumve est." " Statutum, idem quod lex." 
Calvini Lexicon juridicum. Constitution and statute were 
originally terms of the civil law, * and from thence intro- 
duced by Ecclesiastics into the English law. Thus in the sta- 
tute 25 Hen. 8, c. 19, § 1, " Constitutions and ordinances" are 
used as synonymous. The term constitution, has many other 
significations in physics and in politics ; but in jurisprudence, 

* To hid, to set, was the ancient legislative word of the English. LI. Hlotharii 
;& Eadrici. LI. Inae. LI. Eadwerdi. LI. Aathelstani. 



CONSTITUTION. 133 

whenever it is applied to any act of the Legislature, it inva- 
riably means a statute, law, or ordinance, which is the present 
case. No inference then of a different meaning can be drawn 
from the adoption of this title : on the contrary, we might 
conclude that, by their affixing to it a term synonymous with 
ordinance, or statute, they meant it to be an ordinance or 
statute. But of what consequence is their meaning, where 
their power is denied ? If they meant to do more than they 
had power to do, did this give them power ? It is not the 
name, but the authority, which renders an act obligatory. 
Lord Coke says, " an article of the statute 11 R. 2, c. 5, that 
no person should attempt to revoke any ordinance then made, 
is repealed, for that such restraint is against the jurisdiction 
and power of the parliament." — 4. Inst. 42. And again, 
" though divers parliaments have attempted to restrain subse- 
quent parliaments, yet could they never effect it ; for the lat- 
ter parliament hath ever power to abrogate, suspend, qualify, 
explain, or make void the former in the whole or in any part 
thereof, notwithstanding any words of restraint, prohibition, 
or penalty, in the former ; for it is a maxim in the laws of 
the parliament, quod leges posteriores priores contrarias abro- 
gant." — 4. Inst. 43. To get rid of the magic supposed to be 
in the word constitution, let us translate it into its definition, 
as given by those who think it above the power of the law ; 
and let us suppose the convention instead of saying, " We, 
the ordinary Legislature, establish a constitution,'" had said, 
" We, the ordinary Legislature, establish an act above the 
power of the ordinary Legislature.'' Does not this expose 
the absurdity of the attempt ? 3. But, say they, the people 
have acquiesced, and this has given it an authority superior to 
the laws. It is true, that the people did not rebel against 
it ; and was that a time for the people to rise in rebellion ?■ 
Should a prudent acquiescence, at a critical time, be con- 
strued into a confirmation of every illegal thing done during 
that period ? Besides, why should they rebel ? At an an- 
nual election they had chosen delegates for the year, to exer- 
cise the ordinary powers of legislation, and to mana^ge the- 



134 CONSTITUTION. 

great contest in which they were engaged. These delegates 
thought the contest would be best managed by an organized 
government. They therefore, among others, passed an ordi- 
nance of government. They did not presume to call it per- 
petual and unalterable. They well knew they had no power 
to make it so ; that our choice of them had been for no such 
purpose, and at a time when we could have no such purpose in 
contemplation. Had an unalterable form of government been 
meditated, perhaps we should have chosen a different set of 
people. There was no cause then for the people to rise in rebel- 
lion. But to what dangerous lengths will this argument lead? 
Did the acquiescence of the colonies, under the various acts 
of power exercised by Great Britain in our infant state, con- 
firm these acts, and so far invest them with the authority of 
the people as to render them unalterable, and our present 
resistance wrong ? On every unauthorative exercise of power 
by the Legislature, must the people rise in rebellion, or their 
silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them ? 
If so, how many rebellions should we have had already ? One 
certainly for every session of assembly. The other States in 
the Union have been of opinion, that to render a form of go- 
vernment unualterable by ordinary acts of assembly, the peo- 
ple must delegate persons with special powers. They have 
accordingly chosen special conventions to form and fix their 
governments. The individuals then who maintain the contrary 
opinion in this country should have the modesty to suppose 
it possible that they may be wrong, and the rest of America 
right. But if there be only a possibility of their being 
wrong, if only a plausible doubt remains of the validity of 
the ordinance of government, is it not better to remove that 
doubt, by placing it on a bottom which none will dispute ? If 
they be right, we shall only have the unnecessary trouble of 
meeting once in convention. If they be wrong, they expose 
us to the hazard of having no fundamental rights at all. True 
it is, this is no time for deliberating on forms of government. 
While an enemy is within our bowels, the first object is to ex- 
pel him. But when this shall be done, when peace shall be 



CONSTITUTION. 135 

established, and leisure given us for intrencliing within good 
forms, the rights for which we have bled, let no man be found 
indolent enough to decline a little more trouble for placing 
them beyond the reach of question. If any thing more be 
requisite to produce a conviction of the expediency of calling 
a convention at a proper season to fix our form of govern- 
ment, let it be the reflection, 

6. That the assembly exercises a power of determining the 
quorum of their own body which may legislate for us. After 
the establishment of the new form they adhered to the Lex 
majoris partis, founded in common law as well as common 
right. * It is the natural law of every assembly of men, 
whose numbers are not fixed by any other law. f They con- 
tinued for some time to require the presence of a majority of 
their whole number, to pass an act. But the British Parlia- 
ment fixes its own quorum : our former assemblies fixed their 
own quorum ; and one precedent in favor of power is stronger 
than an hundred against it. The House of Delegates, there- 
fore, have lately | voted that, during the present dangerous 
invasion, forty members shall be a house to proceed to busi- 
ness. They have been moved to this by the fear of not being 
able to collect a house. But this danger could not authorize 
them to call that a house, which was none ; and if they may 
fix it at one number, they may at another, till it loses its fun- 
damental character of being a representative body. As this 
vote expires with the present invasion, it is probable the for- 
mer rule will be permitted to revive, because at present no ill 
is meant. The power, however, of fixing their own quorum 
has been avowed, and a precedent set. From forty it may be 
reduced to four, and from four to one ; from a house to a com- 
mittee, from a committee to a chairman or speaker, and thus 
an oligarchy or monarchy be substituted under forms supposed 
to be regular : " Omnia mala exempla ex bonis orta sunt : sed 
ubi imperium ad ignaros aut minus bonos pervenit, novum 
illud exemplum ab dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos 

* Bro. abr. Corporations, 31, 34. Hakewell, 93. 
t Puff. Off. horn., L. 2, c. 6, § 12. J June 4, 1781. 



136 CONSTITUTION. 

fertur." When, therefore, it is considered that there is no 
legal obstacle to the assumption by the assembly of all the 
powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, and that these 
may come to the hands of the smallest rag of delegation, 
surely the people will say, and their representatives, while 
yet they have honest representatives, will advise them to say, 
that they will not acknowledge as laws any acts not con- 
sidered and assented to by the major part of their delegates. 

In enumerating the defects of the constitution, it would be 
wrong to count among them what is only the error of particu- 
lar persons. In December, 1776, our circumstances being 
much distressed, it was proposed in the House of Delegates to 
create a dictator, invested with every power legislative, execu- 
tive, and judiciary, civil and military, of life and of death, 
over our persons and over our properties ; and in June, 1781, * 
again under calamity, the same proposition was repeated, and 
wanted a few votes only of being passed. One who entered 
into this contest from a pure love of liberty, and a sense of 
injured rights, who determined to make every sacrifice, and to 
meet every danger, for. the re-establishment of those rights on 
a firm basis, who did not mean to expend his blood and sub- 
stance for the wretched purpose of changing this master for 
that, but to place the powers of governing him in a plurality 
of hands of his own choice, so that the corrupt will of no one 
man might in future oppress himJmust stand confounded and 
dismayed when he is told that a considerable portion of that 
plurality had meditated the surrender of them into a single 
hand, and, in lieu of a limited monarch, to deliver him over to 
a despotic one ! How must we find his efforts and sacrifices 
abused and baffled, if he may still by a single vote be laid 
prostrate at the feet of one man ! In God's name, from 
whence have they derived this power ? Is it from our ancient 
laws ? None such can be produced. Is it from any principle 
in our ncAV constitution, expressed or implied ? Every linea- 



* The delegates were then sitting at Staunton, and had voted that 40 of their 
number should make a house. There were between 40 and 50 present when the 
motion for the dictator was made, and it was rejected by a majority of 6 only. 



CONSTITUTION. 137 

ment of that, expressed or implied, is in full opposition to it. 
Its fundamental principle is, that the State shall be governed 
as a Commonwealth. It provides a Republican organization, 
proscribes under the name of prerogative the exercise of all 
powers undefined by the laws ; places on this basis the whole 
system of our laws; and, by consolidating them together, 
chooses that they shall be left to stand or fall together, never 
providing for any circumstances, nor admitting that such 
could arise, wherein either should be suspended, no, not for a 
moment. Our ancient laws expressly declare, that those who 
are but delegates themselves shall not delegate to others 
powers which require judgment and integrity in their exer- 
cise. Or was this proposition moved on a supposed right in 
the movers of abandoning their posts in a moment of dis- 
tress ? The same laws forbid the abandonment of that post, 
even on ordinary occasions ; and much more a transfer of 
their powers into other hands and other forms, without con- 
sulting the people. They never admit the idea that these, 
like sheep or cattle, may be given from hand to hand without 
an appeal to their own will. Was it from the necessity of the 
case ? Necessities which dissolve a government, do not con- 
vey its authority to an oligarchy or a monarchy. They 
throw back, into the hands of the people, the powers they 
had delegated, and leave them as individuals to shift for them- 
selves. A leader may offer, but not impose himself, nor be 
imposed on them. Much less can their necks be submitted to 
his sword, their breath be held at his will or caprice. The 
necessity which should operate these tremendous effects should 
at least be palpable and irresistible. Yet in both instances 
where it is feared, or pretended with us, it was belied by the 
event. It was belied too by the preceding experience of our 
sister States, several of whom had grappled through greater 
difficulties without abandoning theit forms of government. 
"When the proposition was first made, Massachusetts had 
found even the government of committees sufficient to carry 
them through an invasion. But we at the time of that propo- 
sition were under no invasion. When the second was made, 



138 CONSTITUTION. 

there had been added to this example those of Rhode Island, 
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, in all of which 
the Republican form had been found equal to the task of car- 
rying them through the severest trials. In this State alone 
did there exist so little virtue, that fear was to b9 fixed in the 
hearts of the people, and to become the motive of their exer- 
tions and the principle of their government ? The very 
thought alone was treason against the people ; was treason 
against mankind in general ; as rivetting forever the chains 
which bow down their necks, by giving to their oppressors a 
proof, which they would have trumpeted through the universe, 
of the imbecility of Republican Government, in times of pres- 
sing danger, to shield them from harm. Those who assume 
the right of giving away the reins of government in any case, 
must be sure that the herd, whom they hand on to the rods 
and hatchet of the dictator, will lay their necks on the block 
when he shall nod to them. But if our assemblies supposed 
such a resignation in the people, I hope they mistook their 
character. I am of opinion that the government, instead of 
being braced and invigorated for greater exertions under their 
difficulties, would have been thrown back upon the bungling 
machinery of county committees for administration, till a con- 
vention could have been called, and its wheels again set into 
regular motion. What a cruel moment was this for creating 
such an embarrassment, for putting to the proof the attach- 
ment of our countrymen to Republican Government. Those 
who meant well of the advocates for this measure, (and most 
of them meant well, for I know them personally, had been 
their fellow laborers in the common cause, and had often 
proved the purity of their principles,) had been seduced in 
their judgment by the example of an ancient Republic, whose 
constitution and circumstances were fundamentally different. 
They had sought this precedent in the history of Rome, 
where alone it was to be found, and where at length too it 
had proved fatal. They had taken it from a Republic, rent 
by the most bitter factions and tumults, where the govern- 
ment was of a heavy-handed, unfeeling aristocracy, over a 



CONSTITUTION. 139 

people ferocious, and rendered desperate by poverty and 
%VTetchedness ; tumults which could not be allayed under the 
most trying circumstances, but by the omnipotent hand of a 
single despot. Their constitution, therefore, allowed a tem- 
porary tyrant to be erected, under the name of a dictator ; 
and that temporary tyrant, after a few examples, became per- 
petual. They misapplied this precedent to a people, mild in 
their dispositions, patient under their trial, united for the pub- 
lic liberty, and aiSectionate to their leaders. But if from the 
constitution of the Roman Government there resulted to their 
Senate a power of submitting all their rights to the will of 
one man, does it follow that the assembly of Virginia have 
the same authority ? What clause in our constitution has sub- 
stituted that of Rome, by way of residuary provision, for all 
cases not otherwise provided for ? Or, if they may step, ad 
libitum, into any other form of government for precedents to 
rule us by, for what oppression may not a precedent be found 
in this world of the bellum omnium in omnia ? Searching for 
the foundations of this proposition, I can find none which may 
pretend a color of right or reason, but the defect before de- 
veloped, that there being no barrier between the legislative, 
executive, and judiciary departments, the Legislature may 
seize the whole ; that having seized it, and possessing a right 
to fix their own quorum, they may reduce that quorum to one, 
whom they may call a chairman, speaker, dictator, or by any 
other name they please. Our situation is, indeed, perilous, 
and I hope my countrymen will be sensible of it, and will ap- 
ply at a proper season the proper remedy ; which is a con- 
vention to fix the constitution, to amend its defects, to bind up 
the several branches of government by certain laws, which, 
when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to 
render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or, in other words, 
a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril 
that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to 
surrender those rights. 



140 LAWS. 



QUERY XIY. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE 

LAWS? 

The State is divided into counties. In every county are 
appointed magistrates, called Justices of the Peace, usually 
from eight, to thirty or forty in number, in proportion to the 
size of the county, of the most discreet and honest inhabi- 
tants. They are nominated by their fellows, but commission- 
ed by the Governor, and act without reward. These magis- 
trates have jurisdiction, both criminal and civil. If the ques- 
tion before them be a question of law only, they decide on it 
themselves ; but if it be of fact, or of fact and law combined, 
it must be referred to a jury. In the latter case, of a combi- 
nation of law and fact, it is usual for the jurors to decide the 
fact, and to refer the law arising on it to the decision of the 
judges. But this division of the subject lies with their discre- 
tion only. And if the question relate to any point of public 
liberty, or if it be one of those in which the judges may be 
suspected of bias, the jury undertake to decide both law and 
fact. If they be mistaken, a decision against right, which is 
casual only, is less dangerous to the State, and less afflicting 
to the loser, than one which makes part of a regular and uni- 
form system. In truth, it is better to toss up cross and pile 
in a cause, than to refer it to a judge whose mind is warped 
by any motive whatever, in that particular case. But the 
common sense of twelve honest men gives still a better chance 
of just decision, than the hazard of cross and pile. These 
judges execute their process by the sheriff or coroner of the 
county, or by constables of their own appointment. If any 
free person commit an offence against the Commonwealth, if 
it be below the degree of felony, he is bound by a justice to 



3 



LAWS. 141 

appear before their court, to answer it on indictment or infor- 
mation. If it amount to felony, lie is committed to jail, a 
court of these justices is called ; if they on examination think 
him guilty, they send him to the jail of the General Court, 
before which court he is to be tried first by a grand jury of 
24, of whom 13 must concur in opinion ; if they find him 
guilty, he is then tried by a jury of 12 men of the county 
where the ofience was committed, and by their verdict, which 
must be unanimous, he is acquitted or condenyied without ap- 
peal. If the criminal be a slave, the trial by the County 
Court is final. In every case however, except that of high 
treason, there resides in the Governor a power of pardon. In 
high treason, the pardon can only flow from the General As- 
sembly. In civil matters these justices have jurisdiction in 
all cases of whatever value, not appertaining to the depart- 
ment of the admiralty. This jurisdiction is two fold. If the 
matter in dispute be of less value than 4^ dollars, a single 
member may try it at any time and place within his county, 
and may award execution on the goods of the party cast. If 
it be of that or greater value, it is determinable before the 
County Court, which consists of four at the least of those 
justices, and assembles at the court house of the county on a 
certain day in every month. From their determination, if the 
matter be of the value of ten pounds sterling, or concern the 
title or bounds of lands, an appeal lies to one of the Superior 
Courts. 

There are three Superior Courts, to wit, the High Court of 
Chancery, the General Court, and Court of Admiralty. The 
first and second of these receive appeals from the County 
Courts, and also have original jurisdiction where the subject 
of controversy is of the value of ten pounds sterling, or where 
it concerns the title or bounds of land. The jurisdiction of 
the admiralty is original altogether. The High Court of 
Chancery is composed of three judges, the General Court of 
five, and the Court of Admiralty of three. The two first hold 
their sessions at Richmond at stated times, the Chancery twice 
in the year, and the General Court twice for business, civil 



142 LAWS. 

and criminal, and twice more for criminal only. The Court 
of Admiralty sits at Williamsburgh whenever a controversy 
arises. 

There is one Supreme Court, called the Court of Appeals, 
composed of the judges of the three Superior Courts, assem- 
bling twice a year at stated times at Richmond. This court 
receives appeals in all civil cases from each of the Superior 
Courts, and determines them finally. But it has no original 
jurisdiction. 

If a controversy arise between two foreigners of a nation 
in alliance with the United States, it is decided by the Consul 
for their State, or, if both parties choose it, by the ordinary 
courts of justice. If one of the parties only be such a fo- 
reigner, it is triable before the courts of justice of the coun- 
try. But if it shall have been instituted in a County Court, 
the foreigner may remove it into the General Court, or Court 
of Chancery, who are to determine it at their first sessions, as 
they must also do if it be originally commenced before them. 
In cases of life and death, such foreigners have a right to be 
tried by a jury, the one-half foreigners, the other natives. 

All public accounts are settled with a Board of Auditors, 
consisting of three members, appointed by the General As- 
sembly, any two of whom may act. But an individual, dissa- 
tisfied with the determination of that board, may carry his 
case into the proper Superior Court. 

A description of the laws : 

The General Assembly was constituted, as has been al- 
ready shewn, by letters patent of March 9th, 1607, in the 4th 
year of the reign of James the First. The laws of England 
seem to have been adopted by consent of the settlers, which 
might easily enough be done whilst they were few and living 
altogether. Of such adoption, however, we have no other 
proof than their practice, till the year 1661, when they were 
expressly adopted by an act of the assembly, except so far as 
" a difference of condition" rendered them inapplicable. Un- 
der this adoption, the rule, in our courts of judicature was, 
that the common law of England, and the general statutes 



LAWS. 143 

previous to the fourth of James, were in force here ; but that 
no subsequent statutes were, unless ive were named in tliemj 
said the judges and other partizans of the crown, but named 
or not named, said those who reflected freely. It will be un- 
necessary to attempt a description of the laws of England, as 
that may be found in English publications. To those which 
were established here, by the adoption of the Legislature, 
have been since added a number of acts of assembly passed 
during the monarchy, and ordinances of convention and acts 
of assembly enacted since the establishment of the Republic. 
The following variations from the British model are perhaps 
worthy of being specified. 

Debtors unable to pay their debts, and making faithful de- 
livery of their whole efi"ects, are released from confinement, 
and their persons forever discharged from restraint for such 
previous debts ; but any property they may afterwards ac- 
quire will be subject to their creditors. 

The poor, unable to support themselves, are maintained by 
an assessment on the titheable persons in their parish. This 
assessment is levied and administered by twelve persons .in 
each parish, called vestrymen, originally chosen by the house- 
keepers of the parish, but afterwards filling vacancies in their 
own body by their own choice. These are usually the most 
discreet farmers, so distributed through their parish, that 
every part of it may be under the immediate eye of some one 
of them. They are well acquainted with the details and eco- 
nomy of private life, and they find suflScient inducements to 
execute their charge well, in their philanthrophy, in the ap- 
probation of their neighbors, and the distinction which that 
gives them. The poor who have neither property, friends, 
nor strength to labor, are boarded in the houses of good far- 
mers, to whom a stipulated sum is annually paid. To those 
who are able to help themselves a little, or have friends from 
whom they derive some succors, inadequate, however, to their 
full maintenance, supplementary aids are given, which enable 
them to live comfortably in their own houses, or in the houses 
of their friends. Vagabonds, without visible property or vo- 



144 LAWS. 

cation, are placed in workhouses, where they are well clothed, 
fed, lodged, and made to labor. Nearly the same method of 
providing for the poor prevails through all our States ; and 
from Savannah to Portsmouth you will seldom meet a beggar. 
In the larger towns, indeed, they sometimes present them- 
selves. These are usually foreigners, who have never ob- 
tained a settlement in any parish. I never yet saw a native 
American begging in the streets or highways. A subsistence 
is easily gained here ; and if by misfortunes they are thrown 
on the charities of the world, those provided by their own 
country are so comfortable and so certain, that they never 
think of relinquishing them to become strolling beggars. 
Their situation, too, when sick, in the family of a good far- 
mer, where every member is emulous to do them kind offices, 
where they are visited by all the neighbors, who bring them 
the little rarieties which their sickly appetites may crave, and 
who take by rotation the nightly watch over them, when their 
condition requires it, is, without comparison, better than in a 
general hospital, where the sick, the dying, and the dead, are 
crammed together in the same rooms, and often in the same 
beds. The disadvantages, inseparable from general hospitals, 
are such as can never be counterpoised by all the regularities 
of medicine and regimen. Nature and kind nursing save a 
much greater proportion in our plain way, at a smaller ex- 
pense, and with less abuse. One branch only of hospital in- 
stitution is wanting with us ; that is, a general establishment 
for those laboring under difficult cases of chirurgery. The 
aids of this art are not equivocal. But an able chirurgeon 
cannot be had in every parish. Such a receptacle should, 
therefore, be provided for those patients ; but no others should 
be admitted. 

Marriages must be solemnized either on special license, 
granted by the first magistrate of the county, on proof of the 
consent of the parent or guardian of either party under age, 
or after solemn publication, on three several Sundays, at some 
place of religious worship, in the parishes where the parties 
reside. The act of solemnization may be by the minister of 



LAWS. 145 

any society of Christians, who shall have been previously li- 
censed for this purpose by the court of the county. Quakers 
and Menonists, however, are exempted from all these condi- 
tions, and marriage among them is to be solemnized by the 
society itself. 

A foreigner of any nation, not in open war with us, be- 
comes naturalized by removing to the State to reside, and 
taking an oath of fidelity; and, thereupon, acquires every 
right of a native citizen ; and citizens may divest themselves 
of that character, by declaring by solemn deed, or in open 
court, that they mean to expatriate themselves, and no longer 
to be citizens of this State. 

Conveyances of land must be registered in the court of the 
county wherein they lie, or in the General Court, or they are 
void as to creditors and subsequent purchasers. 

Slaves pass by descent and dower as lands do. Where the 
descent is from a parent, the heir is bound to pay an equal 
share of their value in money to each of his brothers and 
sisters. 

Slaves, as well as lands, were entailable during the monar- 
chy ; but, by an act of the first Republican assembly, all do- 
nees in tail, present and future, were vested with the absolute 
dominion of the entailed subject. 

Bills of exchange being protested, carry 10 per cent, in- 
terest from their date. 

No person is allowed, in any other case, to take more than 
five per cent, per annum, simple interest, for the loan of 
moneys. 

Gaming debts are made void, and moneys actually paid to 
discharge such debts (if they exceeded 40 shillings) may be 
recovered by the payer within three months, or by any other 
person afterwards. 

Tobacco, flour, beef, pork, tar, pitch, and turpentine, must 
be inspected by persons publicly appointed, before they can 
be exported. 

The erecting iron works and mills is encouraged by many 
privileges, with necessary cautions, however, to prevent their 
10 



146 LAWS. 

dams from obstructing the navigation of the water courses. 
The General Assembly have, on several occasions, shewn a 
great desire to encourage the opening the great falls of James 
and Patowmac rivers. As yet, however, neither of these have 
been effected. 

The laws have also descended to the preservation and im- 
provement of the races of useful animals, such as horses, cat- 
tle, deer; to the extirpation of those which are noxious, as 
wolves, squirrels, crows, blackbirds ; and to the guarding our 
citizens against infectious disorders, by obliging suspected ves- 
sels coming into the State, to perform quarantine, and by re- 
gulating the conduct of persons having such disorders within 
the State. 

The mode of acquiring lands, in the earliest times of our 
settlement, was by petition to the General Assembly. If the 
lands prayed for were already cleared of the Indian title, and 
the assembly thought the prayer reasonable, they passed the 
property by their vote to the petitioner. But if they had 
not yet been ceded by the Indians, it was necessary that 
the petitioner should previously purchase their right. This 
purchase the assembly verified, by enquiries of the Indian 
proprietors ; and being satisfied of its reality and fair- 
ness, proceeded further to examine the reasonableness of 
the petition, and its consistence with policy, and, accord- 
ing to the result, either granted or rejected the petition. 
The company also sometimes, though very rarely, granted 
lands, independently of the General Assembly. As the 
colony increased, and individual applications for land multi- 
plied, it was found to give too much occupation to the Gene- 
ral Assembly to enquire into and execute the grant in every 
special case. They therefore thought it better to establish 
general rules, according to which all grants should be made, 
and to leave to the Governor the execution of them under 
these rules. This they did by what have been usually called 
the land laws, amending them from time to time, as their de- 
fects were developed. According to these laws, when an in- 
dividual wished a portion of unappropriated land, he was to 
locate and survey it by a public officer, appointed for that 



LAWS. 147 

purpose ; its breadth was to bear a certain proportion to its 
length ; the grant was to be executed by the Governor ; and 
the lands were to be improved in a certain manner within a 
given time. From these regulations there resulted to the 
State a sole and exclusive power of taking conveyances of the 
Indian right of soil ; since, according to them, an Indian con- 
veyance alone could give no right to an individual, which the 
laws would acknowledge. The State, or the Crown thereafter, 
made general purchases of the Indians from time to time, and 
the Governor parcelled them out by special grants, conformed 
to the rules before described, which it was not in his power, or 
in that of the Crown, to dispense with. Grants, unaccom- 
panied by their proper legal circumstances, were set aside 
regularly by scij^e facias, or by bill in chancery. Since the 
establishment of our new government, this order of things is 
but little changed. An individual, wishing to appropriate to 
himself lands still unappropriated by any other, pays to the 
public treasurer a sum of money proportioned to the quantity 
he wants. He carries the treasurer's receipt to the auditors 
of public accounts, who, thereupon, debit the treasurer with 
the sum, and order the register of the land office to give the 
party a warrant for his land. With this warrant from the re- 
gister, he goes to the surveyor of the county where the land 
lies on which he has cast his eye. The surveyor lays it off 
for him, gives him its exact description, in the form of a cer- 
tificate, which certificate he returns to the land office, where a 
grant is made out, and is signed by the Governor. This vests 
in him a perfect dominion in his lands, transmissible to whom 
he pleases by deed or will, or by descent to his heirs if he die 
intestate. 

Many of the laws which were in force during the monarch}^ 
being relative merely to that form of government, or incul- 
cating principles inconsistent with Republicanism, the first as- 
sembly which met after the establishment of the Common- 
wealth, appointed a committee to revise the whole Code, to 
reduce it into proper form and volume, and report it to the 
assembly. This work has been executed by three gentlemen, 



148 LAWS. 

and reported ; but probably Tvill not be taken up till a restora- 
tion of peace shall leave to the Legislature leisure to go 
through such a work. 

The plan of the revisal was this : The common law of Eng- 
land, by which is meant that part of the English law which 
was anterior to the date of the oldest statutes extant, is made 
the basis of the work. It was thought dangerous to attempt 
to redvice it to a text; it was therefore left to be collected 
from the usual monuments of it. Necessary alterations in 
that, and so much of the whole body of the British statutes, 
and of acts of assembly, as were thought proper to be re- 
tained, were digested into 126 new acts, in which simplicity of 
style was aimed at, as far as was safe. The following are the 
most remarkable alterations proposed : 

To change the rules of descent, so as that the lands of any 
person dying intestate shall be divisible equally among all his 
children, or other representatives, in equal degree : 

To make slaves distributable among the next of kin, as 
other moveables : 

To have all public expenses, whether of the general trea- 
sury, or of a parish or county, (as for the maintenance of the 
poor, building bridges, court houses, &c.,) supplied by assess- 
ments on the citizens, in proportion to their property : 

To hire undertakers for keeping the public roads in repair, 
and indemnify individuals through whose lands new roads 
shall be opened : 

To define with precision the rules whereby aliens should be- 
come citizens, and citizens make themselves aliens : 

To establish religious freedom on the broadest bottom : 

To emancipate all slaves born after passing the act. The 
bill reported by the revisers does not itself contain this pro- 
position ; but an amendment containing it was prepared, to 
■be offered to the Legislature whenever the bill should be taken 
up, and further directing that they should continue with their 
parents to a certain age, then be brought up, at the public 
•expense, to tillage, arts or sciences, according to their ge- 
miuses, till the females should be eighteen, and the, males 



LAWS. 149 

twenty-one years of age, when they should be colonized to 
such place as the circumstances of the time should render 
most proper, sending them out with arms, implements of 
household, and of the handicraft arts, seeds, pairs of the use- 
ful domestic animals, &c., to declare them a free and inde- 
pendent people, and extend to them our alliance and protec- 
tion, till they shall have acquired strength ; and to send ves- 
sels at the same time to other parts of the world for an equal 
number of white inhabitants ; to induce whom to migrate 
hither, proper encouragements were to be proposed. It will 
probably be asked, Why not retain and incorporate the blacks 
into the State, and thus save the expense of supplying, by 
importation of white settlers, the vacancies they will leave ? 
Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites ; ten thou- 
sand recollections by the blacks of the injuries they have sus- 
tained ; new provocations ; the real distinctions which Nature 
has made ; and many other circumstances, will divide us into 
parties, and produce convulsions, which will probably never 
end but in the extermination of the one or the other race. 
To these objections, which are political, may be added others, 
which are physical and moral. The first difference which 
strikes us is that of color. Whether the black of the negro 
resides in the reticular membrane between the skin and scarf 
skin, or in the scarf skin itself; whether it proceeds from the 
color of the blood, the color of the bile, or from that of some 
other secretion, the difference is fixed in Nature, and is as real 
as if its seat and cause were better known to us. And is this 
difference of no importance ? Is it not the foundation of a 
greater or less share of beauty in the two races ? Are not 
the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every 
passion by greater or less suffusions of color in the one, pre- 
ferable to that eternal monotony which reigns in the counte- 
nances, that immovable veil of black which covers all the emo- 
tions of the other race ? Add to these flowing hair, a more 
elegant symmetry of form, their own judgment in favor of 
the whites, declared by their preference of them, as uniformly 
as is the preference of the Oranootan for the black women. 



150 LAWS. 

over those of his own species. The circumstance of superior 
beauty is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our 
horses, dogs, and other domestic animals ; why not in that of 
man ? Besides those of color, figure and hair, there are other 
physical distinctions proving a difference of race. They have 
less hair on the face and body. They secrete less by the kid- 
neys, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a 
very strong and disagreeable odor. This greater degree of 
transpiration renders them more tolerant of heat, and less so 
of cold, than the whites. Perhaps, too, a difference of struc- 
ture in the pulmonary apparatus, which a late ingenious expe- 
rimentalist * has discovered to be the principal regulator of 
animal heat, may have disabled them from extricating, in the 
act of inspiration, so much of that fluid from the outer air, or 
obliged them in expiration, to part with more of it. They 
seem to require less sleep. A black, after hard labor through 
the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements to sit up 
till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with 
the first dawn of the morning. They are at least as brave, 
and more adventuresome. But this may perhaps proceed 
from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a 
danger till it be present. When present, they do not go 
through it with more coolness or steadiness than the whites. 
They are more ardent after their female ; but love seems with 
them to be more an eager desire than a tender delicate mix- 
ture of sentiment and sensation. Their griefs are transient. 
Those numberless afllictions, which render it doubtful whether 
Heaven has given life to us in mercy or in wrath, are less felt, 
and sooner forgotten with them. In general, their existence 
appears to participate more of sensation than reflection. To 
this must be ascribed their disposition to sleep when ab- 
stracted from their diversions, and unemployed in labor. An 
aftimal whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect, must 
be disposed to sleep of course. Comparing them by their 
faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to 
me that in memory they are equal to the whites ; in reason 

* Crawford. 



LAWS. 15i 

much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable 
of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid ; 
and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless and anoma- 
lous. It would be unfair to follow them to Africa for this in- 
vestigation. We will consider them here on the same stage 
with the whites, and where the facts are not apocryphal on 
which a judgment is to be formed. It will be right to make 
great allowances for the difference of condition, of education, 
of conversation, of the sphere in which they move. Many 
millions of them have been brought to, and born in America. 
Most of them, indeed, have been confined to tillage, to their 
own homes, and their own society; yet many have been so 
situated, that they might have availed themselves of the con- 
versation of their masters ; many have been brought up to 
the handicraft arts, and from that circumstance have always 
been associated with the whites. Some have been liberally 
educated, and all have lived in countries where the arts and 
sciences are cultivated to a considerable degree, and have had 
before their eyes samples of the best works from abroad. 
The Indians, with no advantages of this kind, will often carve 
figures on their pipes not destitute of design and merit. 
They will crayon out an animal, a plant, or a country, so as 
to prove the existence of a germ in their minds which only 
wants cultivation. They astonish you with strokes of the 
most sublime oratory ; such as prove their reason and senti- 
ment strong, their imagination glowing and elevated. But 
never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought 
above the level of plain narration ; never seen even an ele- 
mentary trait of painting or sculpture. In music they are 
more generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears for 
tune and time, and they have been found capable of imagin- 
ing a small catch. * Whether they will be equal to the com- 
position of a more extensive run of melody, or of compli- 
cated harmony, is yet to be proved. Misery is often the pa- 

* The instrument proper to them is the banjo, •which they brought hither frem 
Africa, and which is the original of the guitar, its chords being precisely the four 
lower chords of the guitar. 



152 LAAVS. 

rent of the most affecting touches in poetry. Among the 
blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry. Love is 
the peculiar oestrum of the poet. Their love is ardent, but it 
kindles the senses only, not the imagination. Religion, in- 
deed, has produced a Phyllis Whately ; but it could not pro- 
duce a poet. The compositions published under her name are 
below the dignity of criticism. The heroes of the Dunciad 
are to her as Hercules to the author of that poem. Ignatius 
Sancho has approached nearer to merit in composition ; yet 
his letters do more honor to the heart than tbe head. They 
breathe the purest effusions of friendship and general philan- 
thropy, and shew how great a degree of the latter may be 
compounded with strong religious zeal. He is often happy in 
the turn of his compliments, and his style is easy and fami- 
liar, except when he affects a Shandean fabrication of words. 
But his imagination is wild and extravagant, escapes inces- 
santly from every restraint of reason and taste, and, in the 
course of its vagaries, leaves a tract of thought as incoherent 
and eccentric as is the course of a meteor through the sky. 
His subjects should often have led him to a process of sober 
reasoning ; yet we find him always substituting sentiment for 
demonstration. Upon the whole, though we admit him to the 
first place among those of his own color who have presented 
themselves to the public judgment, yet when we compare him 
with the writers of the race among whom he lived, and parti- 
cularly with the epistolary class in which he has taken his own 
stand, we are compelled to enroll him at the bottom of the 
column. This criticism supposes the letters published under 
his name to be genuine, and to have received amendment from 
no other hand ; points which would not be of easy investiga- 
tion. The improvement of the blacks in body and mind, in 
the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been 
observed by every one, and proves that their inferiority is not 
the effect merely of their condition of life. We know that 
among the Romans, about the Augustan age especially, the 
condition of their slaves was much more deplorable than that 
of the blacks on the continent of America. The two sexes 



LAWS. 153 

were confined in separate apartments, because to raise a child 
cost tlie master more than to buy one. Cato, for a very re- 
stricted indulgence to his slaves in this particular, took * from 
them a certain price. But in this country the slaves multiply 
as fast as the free inhabitants. Their situation and manners 
place the commerce between the two sexes almost without re- 
straint. The same Cato, on a principle of economy, always 
sold his sick and superannuated slaves. He gives it as a 
standing precept to a master visiting his farm, to sell his old 
oxen, old wagons, old tools, old and diseased servants, and 
every thing else become useless : " Vendat boves vetulos, 
plaustrum vetus, serramenta Vetera, servum senem, servum 
morbosum, & si quid aliud supersit vendat." — Cato de re 
rustica, c. 2. The American slaves cannot enumerate this 
among the injuries and insults they receive. It was the com- 
mon practice to expose in the island of ^sculapius, in the 
Tyber, diseased slaves, whose cure was like to become te- 
dious, t The Emperor Claudius by an edict gave freedom to 
such of them as should recover, and first declared that if any 
person chose to kill rather than to expose them, it should be 
deemed homicide. The exposing them is a crime, of which 
no instance has existed with us ; and were it to be followed by 
death, it would be punished capitally. We are told of a cer- 
tain Vedius Pollio, who, in the presence of Augustus, would 
have given a slave as food to his fish for having broken a 
glass. X With the Romans, the regular method of taking the 
evidence of their slaves was under torture. Here it has been 
thought better never to resort to their evidence. When a 
master was murdered, all his slaves in the same house, or 
within hearing, were condemned to death. Here punishment 
falls on the guilty only, and as precise proof is required 
against him as against a freeman. Yet notwithstanding these 

*T8s' SnT^ug cta^ev dpiSfii^H voiAiafA,a-tos 6(n>%siv ifai; ^spartaiwaiv. Plu- 
tarch . Cato. 

t Suet. Claud. 25. 
X Seneca de ira, L. 3, 40 ; de Clementia 1, 18 ; Xiphil. Aug., p. 76. 



154 LAWS. 

and other discouraging circumstances among the Romans, 
their slaves were often their rarest artists. They excelled, 
too, in science, insomuch as to be usually employed as tutors 
to their master's children. Epictetus, Diogenes, Phaedon, 
Terence, and Phsedrus, were slaves. But they were of the 
race of whites. It is not their condition then, but Nature, 
which has produced the distinction. Whether further obser- 
vation will or will not verify the conjecture, that Nature has 
been less bountiful to them in the endowments of the head, I 
believe that in those of the heart she will be found to have 
done them justice. That disposition to theft with which they 
have been branded, must be ascribed to their situation, and 
not to any depravity of the moral sense. The man, in whose 
favor no laws of property exist, probably feels himself less 
bound to respect those made in favor of others. When ar- 
guing for ourselves, we lay it down as a fundamental, that 
laws to be just must give a reciprocation of right ; that, with- 
out this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in 
force, and not in conscience ; and it is a problem which I give 
to the master to solve, whether the religious precepts against 
the violation of property were not framed for him as well as 
his slave ? And whether the slave may not as justifiably 
take a little from one who has taken all from him, as he may 
slay one who would slay him ? That a change in the rela- 
tions in which a man is placed should change his ideas of mo- 
ral right and wrong, is neither new nor peculiar to the color 
of the blacks. Homer tells us it was so 2,600 years ago : 

HftiaVf yap •? apst'^g aTtoaivvtat ivpiiorCa Ztvg 
'Avipot;, tvt' av fuiv xafa SaTttoj' ^/tap 'iXriOiv. Od. 17. 323. 

Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day- 
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away. 

But the slaves of which Homer speaks were whites. Not- 
withstanding these considerations, which must weaken their 
respect for the laws of property, we find among them nume- 
rous instances of the most rigid integrity, and as many as 
among their better instructed masters, of benevolence, grati- 



LAWS. ■ 155 

tude, and unshaken fidelity. The opinion that they are in- 
ferior in the faculties of reason and imagination, must be 
hazarded with great diffidence. To justify a general conclu- 
sion, requires many observations, even where the subject may 
be submitted to the anatomical knife, to optical glasses, to 
analysis by fire, or by solvents. How much more then where 
it is a faculty, not a substance, we are examining ; where it 
eludes the research of all the senses ; where the conditions of 
its existence are various, and variously combined ; where the 
effects of those which are present or absent bid defiance to 
calculation ; let me add too, as a circumstance of great ten- 
derness, where our conclusion would degrade a whol-e race of 
men from the rank in the scale of beings which their Creator 
may perhaps have given them. To our reproach it must be 
said, that though for a century and a half we have had under 
our eyes the races of black and of red men, they have never 
yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I ad- 
vance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether 
originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and cir- 
cumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both 
of body and mind. It is not against experience to suppose 
that different species of the same genus, or varieties of the 
same species, may possess different qualifications. Will not a 
lover of natural history then, one who views the gradations in 
all the races of animals with the eye of philosophy, excuse 
an effort to keep those in the department of man as distinct 
as Nature has formed them ? This unfortunate difference of 
color, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the 
emancipation of these people. Many of their advocates, 
while they wish to vindicate the liberty of human nature, are 
anxious also to preserve its dignity and beauty. Some of 
these, embarrassed by the question, "What further is to be 
done with them?" join themselves in opposition with those 
who are actuated by sordid avarice only. Among the Romans 
emancipation required but one effort. The slave, when made 
free, might mix with, without staining the blood of his master. 
But with us a second is necessary, unknown to history. When 
freed, he is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture. 



156 LAWS. 

The Revised Code further proposes to proportion crimes and 
punishments. This is attempted on the following scale : 

I. Crimes whose punishment extends to life : 

1. High treason. Death by hanging. Forfeiture of lands 
and goods to the Commonwealth. 

2. Petty treason. Death by hanging. Dissection. For- 
feiture of half the lands and goods to the representatives of 
the party slain. 

3. Murder. 

1. By poison. Death by poison. Forfeiture of one-half 
as before. 

2. In Duel. Death by hanging. Gibbeting, if the chal- 
lenger. Forfeiture of one-half as before, unless it be the 
party challenged, then the forfeiture is to the Commonwealth. 

3. In any other way. Death by hanging. Forfeiture of 
one-half as before. 

4. Manslaughter. The second offence is murder. 

II. Crimes ivhose punishment goes to limb : 

o* o ? * > Dismemberment. 
z. bodomy. j 

3. Maiming. \ Retaliation, and the forfeiture of half the 

4. Disfiguring, j lands and goods to the sufferer. 

III. Crimes punishable by labor : 

1. Manslaughter, 1st offence. Labor seven years for the 
public. Forfeiture of half as in murder. 

2. Counterfeiting money. Labor six years. Forfeiture of 
lands and goods to the Commonwealth. 

3. Arson. \ Labor five years. Reparation 

4. Asportation of vessels, j three-fold. 

OX) 1 r Labour four years. Reparation double. 

q' XT . T °' > Labor three years. Reparation, 

o. Horse-stealmg. j j r 

9. Grand Larceny. Labor two years. Reparation. Pillory. 

10. Petty Larceny. Labor one year. Reparation. Pillory. 

11. Pretensions to witchcraft, &c. Ducking. Stripes. 

12. Excusable homicide. ^ 

13. Suicide. V To be pitied, not punished. 

14. Apostacy. Heresy, j 



LAWS. 157 

Pardon and privilege of clergy are proposed to be abolished ; 
but if the verdict be against the defendant, the court, in their 
discretion, may allow a new trial. No attainder to cause a 
corruption of blood, or forfeiture of dower. Slaves guilty of 
oflFences punishable in others by labor, to be transported to 
Africa, or elsewhere, as the circumstances of the time admit, 
there to be continued in slavery. A rigorous regimen pro- 
posed for those condemned to labor. 

Another object of the revisal is, to diffuse knowledge more 
generally through the mass of the people. This bill proposes 
to lay off every county into small districts of five or six miles 
square, called hundreds, and in each of them to establish a 
school for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. The 
tutor to be supported by the hundred, and every person in it 
entitled to send their children three years gratis, and as much 
longer as they please, paying for it. These schools to be 
under a visitor, who is annually to choose the boy, of best 
genius in the school, of those whose parents are too poor to 
give them further education, and to send him forward to one 
of the grammar schools, of which twenty are proposed to be 
erected in different parts of the country, for teaching Greek, 
Latin, geography, and the higher branches of numerical arith- 
metic. Of the boys thus sent in any one year, trial is to be 
made at the grammar schools one or two years, and the best 
genius of the whole selected, and continued six years, and the 
residue dismissed. By this means twenty of the best geniuses 
will be raked from the rubbish annually, and be instructed, at 
the public expense, so far as the grammar schools go. At the 
end of six years' instruction, one-half are to be discontinued, 
(from among whom the grammar schools will probably be sup- 
plied with future masters.) and the other half, who are to be 
chosen for the superiority of their parts and disposition, are 
to be sent and continued three years in the study of such 
sciences as they shall choose, at William and Mary College, 
the plan of which is proposed to be enlarged, as will be here- 
after explained, and extended to all the useful sciences. The 
ultimate result of the whole scheme of education would be the 



L" 



158 LAWS. 

teaching all the children of the State reading, writing, and 
common arithmetic: turning out ten annually of superior 
genius, well taught in Greek, Latin, geography, and the higher 
branches of arithmetic ; turning out ten others annually of 
still superior parts, who, to those branches of learning, shall 
have added such of the sciences as their genius shall have led 
them to; the furnishing to the wealthier part of the people 
convenient schools, at which their children may be educated, 
at their own expense. The general objects of this law are to 
provide an education adapted to the years, to the capacity, 
and the condition of every one, and directed to their freedom 
and happiness. Specific details were not proper for the law. 
These must be the business of the visitors entrusted with its 
execution. The first stage of this education being the schools 
of the hundreds, wherein the great mass of the people will 
receive their instruction, the principal foundations of future 
order will be laid here. Instead, therefore, of putting the 
Bible and Testament into the hands of the children at an age 
when their judgments are not sufficiently matured for religious 
enquiries, their memories may here be stored with the most 
useful facts from Grecian, Roman, European, and American 
history. The first elements of morality, too, may be instilled 
into their minds: such as, when further developed as their 
judgments advance in strength, may teach them how to work 
out their own greatest happiness, by shewing them that it does 
not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed 
them, but is always the result of a good conscience, good 
health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits. Those 
whom either the wealth of their parents or the adoption of 
the State shall destine to higher degrees of learning, will go 
on to the grammar schools, which constitute the next stage, 
there to be instructed in the languages. The learning Greek 
and Latin, I am told, is going into disuse in Europe. I know 
not what their manners and occupations may call for, but it 
would be very ill-judged in us to follow their example in this 
instance. There is a certain period of life — say from eight to 
to fifteen or sixteen years of age — when the mind, like the 



LAWS. 159 

body, is not yet firm enough for laborious and close operations. 
If applied to such, it falls an early victim to premature exer- 
tion ; exhibiting, indeed, at first, in these young and tender 
subjects, the flattering appearance of their being men while 
they are yet children, but ending in reducing them to be chil- 
dren when they should be men. The memory is then most 
susceptible and tenacious of impressions ; and the learning of 
languages being chiefly a work of memory, it seems precisely 
fitted to the powers of this period, which is long enough, too, 
for acquiring the most useful languages, ancient and modern. 
I do not pretend that language is science. It is only an 
instrument for the attainment of science. But that time is 
not lost which is employed in providing tools for future opera- 
tion: more especially as in this case the books put into the 
hands of the youth for this purpose may be such as will at the 
same time impress their minds with useful facts and good prin- 
ciples. If this period be suffered to pass in idleness, the mind 
becomes lethargic and impotent, as would the body it inhabits 
if unexercised during the same time. The sympathy between 
body and mind during their rise, progress, and decline, is too 
strict and obvious to endanger our being misled while we 
reason from the one to the other. As soon as they are of 
sufiicient age, it is supposed they will be sent on from the 
grammar schools to the university, which constitutes our third 
and last stage, there to study those sciences which may be 
adapted to their views. By that part of our plan which pre- 
scribes the selection of the youths of genius from among the 
classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents 
which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, 
but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated. 
But of all the views of this law, none is more important, none 
more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as 
they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. For 
this purpose the reading in the first stage, where tJiey will 
receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been said, to 
be chiefly historical. History, by apprising them of the past, 
will enable them to judge of the future ; it will avail them of 



160 LAWS. 

the experience of other times, and other nations ; it will qualify 
them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will 
enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may 
assume : and knowing it, to defeat its views. In every Govern- 
ment on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of 
corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and 
wickedness insensibly open, cultivate, and improve. Every 
Government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the 
people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only 
safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds 
must be improved to a certain degree. This, indeed, is not all 
that is necessary, though it be essentially necessary. An 
amendment of our Constitution must here come in aid of the 
public education. The influence over Government must be 
shared among all the people. If every individual which com- 
poses their mass participates of the ultimate authority, the 
Government will be safe; because the corrupting the whole 
mass will exceed any private resources of wealth : and public 
ones cannot be provided but by levies on the people. In this 
case every man would have to pay his own price. The Govern- 
ment of Great Britain has been corrupted, because but one 
man in ten has a right to vote for members of Parliament. 
The sellers of the Government, therefore, get nine-tenths of 
their price clear. It has been thought that corruption is 
restrained by confining the right of suffrage to a few of the 
wealthier of the people ; but it would be more effectually 
restrained by an extension of that right to such numbers as 
would bid defiance to the means of corruption. 

Lastly, it is proposed, by a bill in this revisal, to begin a 
public library and gallery, by laying out a certain sum annually 
in books, paintings, and statues. 



COLLEGES, BUILDINGS, ROADS, &C. 161 



QUERY XY. 



THE COLLEGES AND PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS, THE ROADS, 
BUILDINGS, AC? 

The College of William and Mary is the only public semi- 
nary of learning in this State. It was founded in the time of 
King William and Queen Mary, who granted to it 20,000 
acres of land, and a penny a pound duty on certain tobaccos 
exported from Virginia and Maryland, which had been levied 
by the statute of 25 Car. 2. The Assembly also gave it, by 
temporary laws, a duty on liquors imported, and skins and 
firs exported. From these resources it received upwards of 
£3,000 communibus annis. The buildings are of brick, suffi- 
cient for an indiiferent accommodation of perhaps an hundred 
students. By its charter it was to be under the government 
of twenty visitors, who were to be its legislators, and to have 
a president and six professors, who were incorporated. It was 
allowed a representative in the General Assembly. Under 
this charter, a professorship of the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages, a professorship of mathematics, one of moral philoso- 
phyj and two of divinity, were established. To these were 
annexed, for a sixth professorship, a considerable donation by 
Mr. Boyle of England, for the instruction of the Indians, and 
their conversion to Christianity. This was called the profes- 
sorship of Brafferton, from an estate of that name in England, 
purchased with the moneys given. The admission of the 
learners of Latin and Greek filled the College with children. 
This rendering it disagreeable and degrading to young gentle- 
men already prepared for entering on the sciences, they were 
discouraged from resorting to it, and thus the schools for 
mathematics and moral philosophy, which might have been of 
11 



162 COLLEGES, BUILDINGS, ROADS, &C. 

some service, became of very little. The revenues, too, were 
exhausted in accommodating those who came only to acquire 
the rudiments of science. After the present revolution, the 
visitors, having no power to change those circumstances in the 
constitution of the College which were fixed by the charter, 
and being, therefore, confined in the number of professorships, 
undertook to change the objects of the professorships. They 
excluded the two schools for divinity, and that for the Greek 
and Latin languages, and substituted others ; so that at pre- 
sent they stand thus : 

A Professorship for Law and Police ; 

" " for Anatomy and Medicine ; 

" " for Natural Philosophy and Mathematics ; 

" " for Moral Philosophy, the Law of Nature 

and Nations, the Fine Arts ; 
" " for Modern Languages; 

" " for the Brafferton. 

And it is proposed, so soon as the Legislature shall have 
leisure to take up this subject, to desire authority from them 
to increase the number of professorships, as well for the pur- 
pose of subdividing those already instituted as of adding others 
for other branches of science. To the professorships usually 
established in the Universities of Europe, it would seem proper 
to add one for the ancient languages and literature of the 
North, on account of their connection with our own language, 
laws, customs, and history. The purposes of the Brafierton 
Institution would be better answered by maintaining a "per- 
petual mission among the Indian tribes, the object of which, 
besides instructing them in the principles of Christianity, as 
the founder requires, should be to collect their traditions, laws, 
customs, languages, and other circumstances which might lead 
to a discovery of their relation with one another, or descent 
from other nations. When these objects are accomplished 
with one tribe, the missionary might pass on to another. 

The roads are under the government of the county courts, 
subject to be controlled by the general court. They order 
.new roads to be opened wherever they think them necessary. 



COLLEGES, BUILDINGS, ROADS, &€." 163 

The inhabitaiits of the county are by them laid off into pre- 
cincts, to each of which they allot a convenient portion of the 
public roads to be kept in repair. Such bridges as may be 
built without the assistance of artificers, they are to build. If 
the stream be such as to require a bridge of regular workman- 
ship, the court employs workmen to build it, at the expense 
of the whole county. If it be too great for the county, 
application is made to the General Assembly, who authorize 
individuals to build it, and to take a fixed toll from all passen- 
gers, or give sanction to such other proposition as to them 
appears reasonable. 

Ferries are admitted only at such places as are particularly 
pointed out by law, and the rates of ferriage are fixed. 

Taverns are licensed by the courts, who fix their rates from 
time to time. 

The private buildings are very rarely constructed of stone 
or brick : much the greatest proportion being of scantling and 
boards, plastered with lime. It is impossible to devise things 
more ugly, uncomfortable, and happily more perishable. There 
are two or three plans, on one of which, according to its size, 
most of the houses in the State are built. The poorest people 
build huts of logs, laid horizontally in pens, stopping the 
interstices with mud. These are warmer in winter, and cooler 
in summer, than the more expensive constructions of scantling 
and plank. The wealthy are attentive to the raising of vege- 
tables, but very little so to fruits. The poorer people attend 
to neither, living principally on milk and animal diet. This is 
the more inexcusable, as the climate requires indispensably a 
free use of vegetable food for health as well as comfort, and is 
very friendly to the raising of fruits. The only public build- 
ings worthy of mention are the Capitol, the Palace, the Col- 
lege, and the Hospital for Lunatics, all of them in Williams- 
burg, heretofore the seat of our government. The Capitol 
is a light and airy structure, with a portico in front of two 
orders, the loAver of which, being Doric, is tolerably just in 
its proportions and ornaments, save only that the intercolon- 
nations are too large. The upper is Ionic, much too small 



164 COLLEGES, BUILDINGS, ROADS, AC. 

for that on whicli it is mounted, its ornaments not proper to 
the order, nor proportioned within themselves. It is crowned 
with a pediment, which is too high for its span. Yet, on the 
whole, it is the most pleasing piece of architecture we have. 
The Palace is not handsome without, hut it is spacious and 
commodious within ; is prettily situated, and, with the grounds 
annexed to it, is capable of being made an elegant seat. The 
College and Hospital are rude, misshapen piles, which, but 
that they have roofs, would be taken for brick-kilns. There 
are no other public buildings but churches and court houses, 
in which no attempts are made at elegance. Indeed, it would 
not be easy to execute such an attempt, as a workman could 
scarcely be found here capable of drawing an order. The 
genius of architecture seems to have shed its maledictions 
over this land. Bmldings are often erected, by individuals, 
of considerable expense. To give these symmetry and taste 
would not increase their cost. It would only change the ar- 
rangement of the materials, the form and combination of the 
members. This would often cost less than the burthen of 
barbarous ornaments Avith which these buildings are sometimes 
charged. But the first principles of the art are unknown, 
and there exists scarcely a model among us sufficiently chaste 
to give an idea of them. Architecture being one of the fine 
arts, and as such within the department of a professor of the 
college, according to the new arrangement, perhaps a spark 
may fall on some young subjects of natural taste, kindle up 
their genius, and produce a reformation in this elegant and 
useful art. But all we shall do in this way will produce no 
permanent improvement to our country, while the unhappy 
prejudice prevails that houses of brick or stone are less whole- 
some than those of wood. A dew is often observed on the 
walls of the former in rainy weather, and the most obvious 
solution is, that the rain has penetrated through these walls. 
The following facts, however, are sufficient to prove the error 
of this solution : 1. This dew on the walls appears when there 
is no rain, if the state of the atmosphere be moist. 2. It 
appears on the partition as well as the exterior walls. 3. So 



COLLEGES, BUILDINGS, KOADS, &C. 165 

also on pavements of brick or stone. 4. It is more copious 
in proportion as the walls are thicker ; the reverse of which 
ought to be the case, if this hypothesis were just. If cold 
water be poured into a vessel of stone, or glass, a dew forms 
instantly on the outside ; but if it be poured into a vessel of 
wood, there is no such appearance. It is not supposed, in the 
first case, that the water has exuded through the glass, but 
that it is precipitated from the circumambient air ; as the 
humid particles of vapor, passing from the boiler of an alem- 
bic through its refrigerant, are precipitated from the air, in 
which they were suspended, on the internal surface of the re- 
frigerant. Walls of brick or stone act as the refrigerant in 
this instance. They are sufficiently cold to condense and pre- 
cipitate the moisture suspended in the air of the room, when 
it is heavily charged therewith. But walls of wood are not 
so. The question then is, whether air in which this moisture 
is left floating, or that which is deprived of it, be most whole- 
some ? In both cases the remedy is easy. A little fire 
kindled in the room, whenever the air is damp, prevents the 
precipitation on the walls ; and this practice, found healthy in 
the warmest as well as coldest seasons, is as necessary in a 
wooden as in a stone or a brick house. I do not mean to say 
that the rain never penetrates through walls of brick. On 
the contrary, I have seen instances of it. But with us it is 
only through the Northern and Eastern walls of the house, 
after a northeasterly storm, these being the only ones which 
continue long enough to force through the walls. This, how- 
ever, happens too rarely to give a just character of unwhole- 
someness to such houses. In a house, the walls of which are 
of well-burnt brick and good mortar, I have seen the rain 
penetrate through but twice in a dozen or fifteen years. The 
inhabitants of Europe, who dwell chiefly in houses of stone or 
brick, are surely as healthy as those of Virginia. These 
houses have the advantage, too, of being warmer in Winter 
and cooler in Summer than those of wood ; of being cheaper 
in their first construction, where lime is convenient, and in- 
finitely more durable. The latter consideration renders it of 



166 BUILDINGS — TORIES. 

great importance to eradicate this prejudice from the minds 
of our countrymen. A country, whose buildings are of wood, 
can never increase in its improvements to any considerable de- 
gree. Their duration is highly estimated at 50 years. Every 
half century then our country becomes a tabula rasa, whereon 
we have to set out anew, as in the first moment of seating it. 
Whereas when buildings are of durable materials, every new 
edifice is an actual and permanent acquisition to the State, 
adding to its value as well as to its ornament. 



QUERY XYI. 



THE MEASURES TAKEN WITH REGARD OF THE ESTATES AND 
POSSESSIONS OF THE REBELS, COMMONLY CALLED TORIES ? 

A Tory has been properly defined to be a traitor in thought, 
but not in deed. The only description by which the laws have 
endeavored to come at them, was that of non-jurors, or per- 
sons refusing to take the oath of fidelity to the State. Per- 
sons of this description were at one time subjected to double 
taxation, at another to treble, and lastly were allowed retribu- 
tion, and placed on a level with good citizens. It may be 
mentioned as a proof both of the lenity of oui- government 
and unanimity of its inhabitants, that though this war has now 
raged near seven years, not a single execution for treason has 
taken place. 

Under this query I will state the measures which have been 
adopted as to British property, the owners of which stand on 
a much fairer footing than the Tories. By our laws, the same 
as the English in this respect, no alien can hold lands, nor 
alien enemy maintain an action for money or other movable 
thing. Lands acquired or held by aliens become forfeited to 



TORIES. 167 

the State ; and, on an action by an alien enemy to recover 
money, or other movable property, the defendant may plead 
that he is an alien enemy. This extinguishes his right in the 
hands of the debtor or holder of his movable property. By 
our separation from Great Britain, British subjects became 
aliens, and, being at war, they were alien enemies. Their 
lands were of course forfeited, and their debts irrecoverable. 
The assembly, however, passed laws, at various times, for 
saving their property. They first sequestered their lands, 
slaves, and other property on their farms, in the hands of 
commissioners, who were mostly the confidential friends or 
agents of the owners, and directed their clear profits to be 
paid into the treasury ; and they gave leave to all persons 
owing debts to British subjects to pay them also into the trea- 
sury. The moneys so to be brought in were declared to re- 
main the property of the British subject, and, if used by the 
State, were to be re-paid, unless an improper conduct in Great 
Britain should render a detention of it reasonable. Depre- 
ciation had at that time, though unacknowledged and unper- 
ceived by the Whigs, begun in some small degree. Great 
sums of money were paid in by debtors. At a later period 
the assembly, adhering to the political principles which forbid 
an alien to hold lands in the State, ordered all British property 
to be sold ; and become sensible of the real progress of depre- 
ciation, and of the losses which would thence occur, if not 
guarded against, they ordered that the proceeds of the sales 
should be converted into their then worth in tobacco, subject 
to the future direction of the Legislature. This act has left 
the question of retribution more problematical. In May, 
1780, another act took away the permission to pay into the 
public treasury debts due to British subjects. 



168 RELIGION. 



QUEKY XVII. 



THE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS RECEIVED INTO THAT STATE ! 

The first settlers in this country were emigrants from Eng- 
land, of the English Church, just at a point of time when it 
was flushed with complete victory over the religious of all 
other persuasions. Possessed as they became of the powers 
of making, administering, and executing the laws, they shew- 
ed equal intolerance in this country with their Presbyterian 
brethren, who had emigrated to the Northern Government. 
The poor Quakers were flying from persecution in England. 
They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of 
civil and religious freedom ; but they found them free only 
for the reigning sect. Several acts of the Virginia Assembly 
of 1659, 1662, and 1693, had made it penal in parents to re- 
fuse to have their children baptized; had prohibited the un- 
lawful assembling of Quakers ; had made it penal for any 
master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into the State ; had or- 
dered those already here, and such as should come thereafter, 
to be imprisoned till they should abjure the country ; provided 
a milder punishment for their first and second return, but 
death for their third ; had inhibited all persons from sufiering 
their meetings in or near their houses, entertaining them indi- 
vidually, or disposing of books which supported their tenets. 
If no capital execution took place here, as did in New Eng- 
land, it was not owing to the moderation of the church, or 
spirit of the Legislature, as may be inferred from the law 
itself; but to historial circumstances which have not been 
handed down to us. The Anglicans retained full possession of 
the country about a century. Other opinions began then to 
creep in, and the great care of the government to support 
their own church, having begotten an equal degree of indo- 



RELIGION. 169 

lence in its clergy, two-thirds of the people had become dis- 
senters at the commencement of the present revolution. The 
laws, indeed, were still oppressive on them, but the spirit of 
the one party had subsided into moderation, and of the other 
had risen to a degree of determination which commanded 
respect. 

The present state of our laws on the subject of religion is 
this. The convention of May, 1776, in their declaration of 
rights, declared it to be a truth, and a natural right, that the 
exercise of religion should be free ; but when they proceeded 
to form on that declaration the ordinance of government, in- 
stead of taking up every principle declared in the Bill of 
Rights, and guarding it by legislative sanction, they passed 
over that which asserted our religious rights, leaving them as 
they found them. The same convention, however, when they 
met as a member of the General Assembly in October, 1776, 
repealed all acts of Parliament which had rendered criminal 
the maintaining any opinions in matters of religion, the for- 
bearing to repair to church, and the exercising any mode of 
worship ; and suspended the laws giving salaries to the clergy, 
which suspension was made perpetual in October, 1779. 
Statutory oppressions in religion being thus wiped away, we 
remain at present under those only imposed by the common 
law, or by our own acts of assembly. At the common law, 
heresy was a capital offence, punishable by burning. Its de- 
finition was left to the ecclesiastical judges, before whom the 
conviction was, till the statute of the 1 El., c. 1, circum- 
scribed it, by declaring that nothing should be deemed heresy, 
but what had been so determined by authority of the canoni- 
cal Scriptures, or by one of the four first general councils, or 
by some other council having for the grounds of their declara- 
tion the express and plain words of the Scriptures. Heresy, 
thus circumscribed, being an offence at the common law, our 
act of assembly of October, 1777, c. 17, gives cognizance of 
it to the General Court, by declaring that the jurisdiction of 
that court shall be general in all matters at the common law. 
The execution is by the writ Be liaeretico comhurendo. By 



170 RELIGION. 

our own act of assembly of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought 
up in the Christian religion denies the being of a God, or the 
Trinity, or asserts there are more Gods than one, or denies 
the Christian religion to be true, or the Scriptures to be of 
divine authority, he is punishable on the first offence by inca- 
pacity to hold any office or employment ecclesiastical, civil or 
military ; on the second by disability to sue, to take any gift 
or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator, and by 
three years imprisonment, without bail. A father's right to 
the custody of his own cliildren being founded in law on his 
right of guardianship, this being taken away, they may of 
course be severed from him, and put, by the authority of a 
court, into more orthodox hands. This is a summary view of 
that religious slavery, under which a people have been willing 
to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the 
establishment of their civil freedom. The error seems not 
sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well 
as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the 
laws. * But our rulers can have authority over such natural 
rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of con- 
science we never submitted, we could not submit. We are 
answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of 
government extend to such acts only as are injurious to 
others, f But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say 
there are twenty Gods, or no God. It neither picks my 
pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said his testimony in a 
court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the 
stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making 
him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It 
may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. 
Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against 
error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true reli- 
gion, by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test 



* Furneaux passim. 

j- Tamen humani juris et naturalis potestatis est, unicuique quod putaverit, 
colere ; nee alii obeat, aut prodest, alterina religio, Sed nee religionis est cogere 
religionem, quaa sponte suscipi debeat, non vi. — TertuUianus ad Scapulam, cap 2. 



RELIGION. 171 

of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of 
error, and of error only. Had not the Roman Government 
permitted free enquiry, Christianity could never have been 
introduced. Had not free enquiry been indulged, at the era 
of the Reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not 
have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present 
corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was 
the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our 
bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus 
in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and 
the potato as an article of food. * Government is just as in- 
fallible too when it fixes systems in physics. Galileo was sent 
to the inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere ; 
the government had declared it to be as flat as a trencher, and 
Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. This error, however, 
at length prevailed, the earth became a globe, and Descartes 
declared it was whirled round its axis by a vortex. The go- 
vernment in which he lived was wise enough to see that this 
was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have 
been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices 
have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravita- 
tion is now more firmly established on the basis of reason, 
than it would be were the government to step in and to make 
it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have 
been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error 
alone which needs the support of government. Truth can 
stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion : whom will you 
make your inquisitors ? Fallible men, men governed by bad 
passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why sub- 
ject it to coercion ? To produce uniformity. But is unifor- 
mity of opinion desirable ? No more than of face and sta- 
ture. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is 
danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of 
a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Dif- 

* Encyclopedia. Article " Antimoine" and " Vomissement." 
The Parliament of Paria forbade, on pain of death, any doctrine to be taught 
contrary to Aristotle's.-^3. Millot. Hist, de France, 280. 



172 BELIGION. 

ference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several 
sects perforin the office of a censor morum over each other. 
Is uniformity attainable ? Millions of innocent men, women 
and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been 
burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned ; yet we have not advanced 
one inch towards uniformity. What has been the eflFect of 
coercion ? To make one-half the world fools, and the other 
half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the 
earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand mil- 
lions of people. That these profess probably a thousand dif- 
ferent systems of religion. That ours is but one of that 
thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, 
we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into 
the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot 
effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only 
practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry 
must be indulged ; and how can we wish others to indulge it 
while we refuse it om-selves. But every State, says an inqui- 
sitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have 
established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of 
establishments ? Our sister States of Pennsylvania and New 
York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment 
at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they 
made it. It has answered beyond conception. They flourish 
infinitely. Religion is well supported ; of various kinds, in- 
deed, but all good enough ; all sufficient to preserve peace and 
order ; or if a sect arises, whose tenets would subvert morals, 
good sense has fair play, and reasons and laughs it out of 
doors, without suffering the State to be troubled with it. 
They do not hang more malefactors than we do. They are 
not more disturbed with religious dissensions. On the con- 
trary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be ascribed to 
nothing but their unbounded tolerance, because there is no 
other circumstance in which they diffier from every nation on 
earth. They have made the happy discovery, that the way to 
silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them. Let 
us, too, give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we 



RELIGION — MANNERS. 173 

may, of those tyrannical laws. It is true, we are as yet 
secured against them by the spirit of the times. I doubt 
whether the people of this country would suffer an execution 
for heresy, or a three years imprisonment for not compre- 
hending the mysteries of the Trinity. But is the spirit of the 
people an infallible, a permanent reliance ? Is it govern- 
ment ? Is this the kind of protection we receive in return for 
the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit of the times may 
alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people 
careless. A single zealot may commence persecutor, and bet- 
ter men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated, 
that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is 
while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the 
conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will 
not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people 
for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their 
rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the 
sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting 
to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, there- 
fore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this 
war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, 
till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion. 



QUEKY XYII. 



THE PARTICULAR CUSTOMS AND MANNERS THAT MAY HAPPEN 
TO BE RECEIVED IN THAT STATE? 

It is difficult to determine on the standard by which the 
manners of a nation may be tried, Avhether catholic^ or ■parti- 
cular. It is more difficult for a native to bring to that stan- 
dard the manners of his own nation, familiarized to him by 
habit. There must, doubtless, be an unhappy influence on 
the manners of our people, produced by the existence of 



174 MANNERS. 

slavery among us. The -whole commerce between master and 
slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, 
the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degra- 
ding submissions on the' other. Our children see this, and 
learn to imitate it ; for man is an imitative animal. This 
quality is the germ of all education in him. From his cradle 
to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others do. If a 
parent could find no " motive either in his philanthropy or his 
self-love for restraining the intemperance of passion towards 
his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is 
present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent 
storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, 
puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a 
loose to his worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and 
daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with 
odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can 
retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circum- 
stances. And with what execration should the statesman be 
loaded, who permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample 
on the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and 
these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and 
the amor patriae of the other. For if a slave can have a 
country in this world, it must be any other in preference to 
that in which he is born to live and labor for another ; in 
which he must lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute 
as far as depends on his individual endeavors to the evanish- 
ment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition 
on the endless generations proceeding from him. With the 
morals of the people their industry also is destroyed. For in 
a warm climate no man will labor for himself who can make 
another labor for him. This is so true, that of the proprie- 
tors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to 
labor. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure 
when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in 
the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of 
God ? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath ? 
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is 



MANNERS — MANUFACTURES. 175 

just ; that his justice cannot sleep forever ; that considering 
numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the 
wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible 
events ; that it may become probable by supernatural inter- 
ference. The Almighty has no attribute which can take side 
with us in such a contest. But it is impossible to be tem- 
perate, and to pursue this subject through the various con- 
siderations of policy, of morals, of history, natural and civil. 
We must be contented to hope they will force their way into 
every one's mind. I think a change already perceptible, since 
the origin of the present revolution. The spirit of the mas- 
ter is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust, his con- 
dition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the aus- 
pices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is 
disposed, in the order of events, to be with the consent of the 
masters, rather than by their extirpation. 



QUEEY XIX. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, INTERIOR 
AND EXTERIOR TRADE? 

We never had an interior trade of any importance. Our 
exterior commerce has suffered very much from the beginning 
of the present contest. During this time we have manufac- 
tured within our families the most necessary articles of cloth- 
ing. Those of cotton will bear some comparison with the 
same kinds of manufacture in Europe ; but those of wool, flax 
and hemp, are very coarse, unsightly and unpleasant; and 
such is our attachment to agriculture, and such our preference 
for foreign manufactures, that be it wise or unwise, our people 
will certainly return as soon as they can to the raising raw 
materials, and exchanging them for finer manufactures than 
they are able to execute themselves. 



176 MAXUFACTURES. 

The political economists of Europe have established it as a 
principle that every State should endeavor to manufacture for 
itself; and this principle, like many others, vre transfer to 
America, without calculating the difference of circumstance 
which should often produce a difference of result. In Europe 
the lands are either cultivated, or locked up against the culti- 
vator. Manufacture must, therefore, be resorted to of neces- 
sity, not of choice, to support the surplus of their people. 
But we have an immensity of land courting the industry of 
the husbandman. Is it best then that all our citizens should 
be employed in its improvement, or that one-half should be 
called off from that to exercise manufactures and handicraft 
arts for the other ? Those who labor in the earth are the 
chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose 
breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and 
genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that 
sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the 
earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a 
phenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an 
example. It is the mark set on those, who not looking up to 
Heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the husband- 
man, for their subsistence, depend for it on the casualties and 
caprice of customers. Dependence begets subservience and 
venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools 
for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and 
consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded 
by accidental circumstances ; but, generally speaking, the pro- 
portion which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens 
bears in any State to that of its husbandmen, is the propor- 
tion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good enough 
barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption. 
While we have land to labor then, let us never wish to see our 
citizens occupied at a work bench, or twirling a distaff. Car- 
penters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry; but, for 
the general operations of manufacture, let our work shops re- 
main in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and mate- 
rials to workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and 



COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS. 177 

materials, and with them their manners and principles. The 
loss by the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic 
will be made up in happiness and permanence of government. 
The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of 
pure government as sores do to the strength of the human 
body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve 
a Republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker, 
which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution. 



QUERY XX. 



A NOTICE OF THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS PARTICULAR tI) 

i 
THE STATE, AND OF THOSE OBJECTS WHICH THE INHABITANT^ 

ARE OBLIGED TO GET FROM EUROPE AND FROM OTHER PART^ 

OF THE WORLD? ! 

Before the present war we exported, communibus annis, ac- 
cording to the best information I can get, nearly as follows : , 



12 



178 



COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION'S. 



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o 




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\ -— -^~— -V 


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1 1 1 > 1 1 r-^ 1 1 


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Tobacco, 
Wheat, 
Indian corn, 
Shipping, 
Masts, planks, s 
Tar, pitch, turpe 
Peltry, viz : skins 
muskrats, race 


ed, hemp, 
, Pig iro] 

n, white 
from pe: 

:ey, 


^to 




rii! « CJ rot^-T ?f^ fl ^ CO 






S^.- ^ g 3 g ^ S 





COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS. 179 

In the year 1758 Ave exported seventy tlioiisand hogsheads 
of tobacco, vrhich was the greatest quantity ever produced in 
this country in one year. But its culture "was fast declining 
at the commencement of this war, and that of wheat taking 
its place; and it must continue to decline on the return of 
peace. I suspect that the change in the temperature of our 
climate has become sensible to that plant, which, to be good, 
requires an extraordinary degree of heat. But it requires 
still more indispensably an uncommon fertility of soil ; and 
the price which it commands at market will not enable the 
planter to produce this by manure. "VYas the supply still to 
depend on Virginia and Maryland alone, as its culture be- 
comes more difficult, the price would rise, so as to enable the 
planter to surmount those difficulties and to live. But the 
Western country on the Missisipi, and the midlands of Geor- 
gia, having fresh and fertile lands in abundance, and a hotter 
sun, will be able to undersell these two States, and will oblige 
them to abandon the raising tobacco altogether. And a 
happy obligation for them it will be. It is a culture produc- 
tive of infinite wretchedness. Those employed in it are in a 
continued state of exertion beyond the powers of nature to 
support. Little food of any kind is raised by them, so that 
the men and animals on these farms are badly fed, and the 
earth is rapidly impoverished. The cultivation of wheat i^ 
the reverse in ev^ry circumstance. Besides clothing the earth 
with herbage, and preserving its fertility, it feeds the laborers 
plentifully, requires from them only a moderate toil, except in 
the season of harvest, raises great numbers of animals for 
food and service, and diffuses plenty and happiness among the 
whole. We find it easier to make an hundred bushels of 
wheat than a thousand weight of tobacco, and they are worth 
more when made. The weevil, indeed, is a formidable obsta- 
cle to the cultivation of this grain with us. But principles 
are already known which must lead to a remedy. Thus a cer- 
tain degree of heat, to wit, that of the common air in Sum- 
mer, is necessary to hatch the egg. If subterranean gra- 
naries, or others, therefore, can be contrived below that tem- 



180 COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS. 

perature, tlie evil will be cured by cold. A degree of heat, 
beyond that which hatches the egg, we know will kill it. But 
in aiming at this we easily run into that which produces putre- 
faction. To produce putrefaction, however, three agents are 
requisite : heat, moisture, and the external air. If the ab- 
sence of any one of these be secured, the other two may 
safely be admitted. Heat is the one we want. Moisture 
then, or external air, must be excluded. The former has been 
done by exposing the grain in kilns to the action of fire, 
which produces heat, and extracts moisture at the same time ; 
the latter, by putting the grain into hogsheads, covering it 
with a coat of lime, and heading it up. In this situation its 
bulk produces a heat sufficient to kill the egg ; the moisture is 
suffered to remain indeed, but the external air is excluded. 
A nicer operation yet has been attempted : that is, to produce 
an intermediate temperature of heat between that which kills 
the egg, and that which produces putrefaction. The thresh- 
ing the grain as soon as it is cut, and laying it in its chaff, in 
large heaps, has been found very nearly to hit this tempera- 
ture, though not perfectly, nor always. The heap generates 
heat sufficient to kill most of the eggs, whilst the chaff 
commonly restrains it from rising into putrefaction. But all 
these methods abridge too much the quantity which the far- 
mer can manage, and enable other countries to undersell him, 
which are not infested with this insect. There is still a de- 
sideratum then to give with us decisive triumph to this branch 
of agriculture over that of tobacco. The culture of wheat, 
by enlarging our pasture, will render the Arabian horse an 
article of very considerable profit. Experience has shewn 
that ours is the particular climate of America, where he may 
be raised without degeneracy. Southwardly the heat of the 
sun occasions a deficiency of pasture, and northwardly the 
Winters are too cold for the short and fine hair, the particu- 
lar sensibility and constitution of that race. Animals, trans- 
planted into unfriendly climates, either change their nature 
and acquire new fences against the new difficulties in which 
they are placed, or they multiply poorly and become extinct. 



COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS. 181 

A good foundation is laid for their propagation here by our 
possessing already great numbers of horses of that blood, and 
by a decided taste and preference for them established among 
the people. Their patience of heat without injury, their su- 
perior wind, fit them better in this and the more Southern 
climates even for the drudgeries of the plough and wagon. 
Northwardly they will become an object only to persons of 
taste and fortune, for the saddle and light carriages. To 
these, and for these uses, their fleetness and beauty will re- 
commend them. Besides these there will be other valuable 
substitutes when the cultivation of tobacco shall be discon- 
tinued, such as cotton in the Eastern parts of the State, and 
hemp and flax in the Western. 

It is not easy to say what are the articles either of neces- 
sity, comfort, or luxury, which we cannot raise, and which we, 
therefore, shall be under a necessity of importing from 
abroad, as everything hardier than the olive, and as hardy as 
the fig, may be raised here in the open air. Sugar, cofiee and 
tea, indeed, are not between these limits ; and habit haAdng 
placed them among the necessaries of life with the wealthy 
part of our citizens, as long as these habits remain, we must 
go for them to those countries which are able to furnish them. 



182 WEIGHTS, MEASURES, MONEY. 



QUEEY XX-I. 



THE WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND THE CURRENCY OF THE HARD 
MONEY ? SOME DETAILS RELATING TO THE EXCHANGE WITH 
EUROPE ? 

Our weights and measures are the same which are fixed by 
acts of Parliament in England. Hoav it has happened that in 
this as well as the other American States the nominal value of 
coin was made to differ from what it was in the country we 
had left, and to differ among ourselves too, I am not able to 
say with certainty. I find that, in 1631, our House of Bur- 
gesses desired of the Privy Council in England a coin debased 
to twenty-five per cent. ; that, in 1645, they forbid dealing 
by barter for tobacco, and established the Spanish piece of 
eight at six shillings, as the standard of their currency ; that, 
in 1655, they changed it to five shillings sterling. In 1680 
they sent an address to the King, in consequence of which, , 
by proclamation in 1683, he fixed the value of French crowns, 
rix dollars, and pieces of eight at six shillings, and the coin of 
New England at one shilling. That in 1710, 1714, 1727, and 
1762, other regulations were made, which will be better pre- 
sented to the eye, stated in the form of a table, as follows : 



WEIGHTS, MEASUKES, MONEY. 



183 



CO 






CO 



'Jt* 



CI 



co 
CO 



CO 



Ttl 



O 



CO 



lO 



MM 

CO 



o 



CO 



T5 



CO 



r 

O 4^ O) o 



oil .V r 









rH E3 O 



bJO o 
O O) 5^ 

Q^ M o ^ 

"3 -c '^ fl J3 1« 



■TJ 



^ f-< 



O ' 

P ei 



(D J— j 



^ 5^ o 

g t(-l 

=* ^ o 

O tB 



I. m 



-^^ 



S '^ 



•'^ ^ cT'S^ 



&J0 



Lo ^° "^ 

• fH 

o 
O 



-.2 






SQO 



Ph 



O r-l C3 

-2 «^ »r, 

O <U != 

• ;i Sh O 



O) O 
<X) ^ 









[In the States where the Dollar is valued at 6s., the coincidence 
of their currency with the Greek and Roman moneys is so singular 
as to be worthy of notice, and to found a suspicion that this object 
may have had some influence in fixing our moneys at this particu- 
lar point, at a time when the value of Greek and Roman learning 
was more justly estimated than at this day. The Penny Lawful 
is precisely the Roman As, which was their unit; 10 of which, equal 
to Ten Pence Lawfxd, made the Attic Drachma, according to 



184 WEIGHTS, MEASURES, MONEY. 

Pliny, L. 21, c. 33. In the latter ages of their history the mo- 
neys of these two people were interwoven so as to make parts of 
the same series, which were in some degree decimal. 
r The As (L. at first Libralis, but latterly \ an ounce of copper, 
j and called Lihella)=ldi. lawful. 

'] 10 As made the Denarius (A".,) or Attic Drachm=10d. 
[^ 100 Denarii made the Mina or Po»<?o=:l,000d. ; or, £4 3s. 4d. 

The Denarius having been divided into fourths of 2^ As each, 
the fourth was called 

r A Sestertius, or Nummus, (^LLS., or HS.^=2ldL. 
} 100 Sesterces made an Aureiis latterly=250d., £1 Os. lOd. 
(^ 1,000 Sesterces made the Sestertium:=£10 8s. 4d. 
f The Libra=m X.=£A lawful. 
I The Talent of Silver=.^^ Mina=£250. 

J The Talent of Gold was the decuple of the talent of silver, at the 
I proportion of 10 for 1, as among the Romans=£2,500. 

And was the Miliary of the Libra, if valued at 16 for 1, as among 
t moderns=l,000 Lihrse=M,^QO. 
' It is understood that the Attic Drachm of silver was exactly our 
Drachm Troy of 60 grains ; the Denarius of the Romans was the 
7th part of their Ounce, which is supposed to have been exactly 
our Avoirdupois Ounce; but this is of 437 J grains Troy, which 
would make the Roman Denarius 62 J grains; and consequently 
^'j more than the Attic Drachm, contrary to the testimony of an- 
tiquity, that the Denarius and Drachm were equal. We may 
very probably conjecture that our Troy weight is taken from the 
Grecians, from whom our physicians derive their science, and, in 
copying their recipes, would, of course, preserve their weights, 
which fix the quantum and proportion of ingredients. We may as 
probably affirm that our Avoirdupois weight is taken from the 
Romans, from whom, through their colonies and conquests in 
Prance, Spain, Germany, Britain, we derive our agriculture and 
commerce. Accordingly we observe that, while we weigh our 
physic by the Troy or Grecian weights, we use the Avoirdupois 
or Roman for the productions of agriculture and general articles 
of commerce; and since antiquity affirms that these two series 
were united by the equality of the Drachm and Denarius, we 
must conclude that in progress of time they have become a little 
separated in use with us, to wit, -^^ part as before noted. 

But the point at which their separation has been arrested and fixed 
is a very remarkable one : 1,000 ounces Avoirdupois make exactly a 
cubic foot of water. This integral, decimal, and cubical relation 
induces a presumption, that while deciding among the varieties and 
uncertainties which, during the ruder ages of the arts, we know had 



WEIGHTS, MEASURES, MONEY. 185 

crept into the weights and measures of England, they had adopted 
for their standard those which stood so conveniently connected 
through the medium of a natural element, always at hand to be ap- 
pealed to. 

The ounce Avoirdupois being thus fixed at the thousandth part 
of a cubic foot of water, the Winchester bushel, of 2,150.4 cubic 
inches, filled with water, would weigh 77.7 lb Avoirdupois, and, 
filled with wheat of statute quality, weighed 64 lb. Amidst the 
varieties discovered between the standard weights. Avoirdupois 
and Troy, in their different depositories, it would be observed 
that all of them were a little over or under this proportion; and 
this would suffice to give this proportion the preference, and to fix 
the standard relation between the Avoirdupois and Troy pounds at 
that which Nature has established between the weights of water 
and wheat; and the Troy grain, 5,760 of which make the pound 
Troy, would be so adjusted as that 7,000 of them would make 
the pound Avoirdupois— iov 7,000 : 5,760 : : 77.7 : 64. Exactly 
the same proportion is known to exist between the dry and liquid 
measures — for the corn gallon contains 272 cubic inches, and the 
ancient liquid gallon of Gruildhall 224 cubic inches — so that the 
system of weights and measures, Avoirdupois and Troy, dry and 
liquid, are found to be in the simple relation of the weights and 
measures of the two obvious and natural subjects, loater and 
wheat ; that is to say, the Pound Avoirdupoise : Pound Troy : : 
the weight of water : xoeight of wheat : : the bulk of the com gal- 
lon : the bulk of the liquid gallon; or, 7,000: 5,760:: 11.1: 
64:: 272: 224. 

These weights and measures seem to have been so combined as 
to render it immaterial whether a commodity was dealt out by weight 
or measure; for the dry gallon of wheat, and the liquid one of 
wine, were of the same weight; and the Avoirdupois pound of 
wheat, and the Troy pound of wine, were of the same measure. 
A more natural, accurate, and curious reconciliation of the two 
systems of Greece and Rome, which happened to be found in use, 
could not have been imagined; and the extension of the connec- 
tion, from weights and measures to coins, as is done so integrally 
by our lawful currency, which makes the penny of 6 grains of 
silver as was the Roman As, has completed the system. 

It is true, we find no trace, either in English or American history, 
that these were the views which determined the relations existing 
between our weights, measui-es and moneys ; but it is more diffi- 
cult to conceive that such a series of combinations should have beea 



186 REVENUE. 

merely accidental, than that history should have been silent about 
them. 

I am aware that there are differences of opinion as to the ancient 
weights and coins. Those here stated are taken from Brerewood, 
Kennet, Ainsworth, and the Encyclopedia, and are as likely to 
have prevailed with our ancestors as the opinions opposed to 
them.] 

The first symptom of the depreciation of our present paper 
money was that of silver dollars selling at six shillings, which 
had before been worth but five shillings and ninepence. The 
assembly, thereupon, raised them by law to six shillings. As 
the dollar is now likely to become the money unit of America, 
as it passes at this rate in some of our sister States, and as it 
facilitates their computation in pounds and shillings, and e con- 
verso, this seems to be more convenient than its former deno- 
mination. But as this particular coin now stands higher than 
any other in the proportion of 133|^ to 125, or 16 to 15, it 
will be neceesary to raise the others in the same proportion. 



QUERY XXII 



THE PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENSES ? 

The nominal amount of these varying constantly and rap- 
idly, with the constant and rapid depreciation of our paper 
money, it becomes impracticable to say what they are. We 
find ourselves cheated in every essay by the depreciation 
intervening between the declaration of the tax and its actual 
receipt. It will therefore be more satisfactory to consider 
what our income may be when we shall find means of collect- 
ing what the people may spare. I should estimate the whole 
taxable property of this State at an hundred millions of del- 



REVENUE. 187 

lars, or thirty millions of pounds, our money. One per cent, 
on this, compared with any thing we ever yet paid, would be 
deemed a very heavy tax. Yet I think that those who manage 
well, and use reasonable economy, could pay one and a half per 
cent, and maintain their household comfortably in the mean 
time, without aliening any part of their principal, and that 
the people would submit to this willingly for the purpose of 
supporting their present contest. We may say, then, that we 
could raise, and ought to raise, from one million to one million 
and a half of dollars annually, that is from three hundred to 
four hundred and fifty thousand pounds, Virginia money. 

Of our expenses it is equally difficult to give an exact state, 
and for the same reason. They are mostly stated in paper 
money, which varying continually, the Legislature endeavors 
at every session, by new corrections, to adapt the nominal 
sums to the value it is wished they should bear. I will state 
them, therefore, in real coin, at the point at which they en- 
deavor to keep them : 

The annual expenses of the General Assembly are 

about $20,000 

The governor, _ _ . - - 3, 333 J 

The council of state, _ . - _ 10,666f 

Their clerks, - - - A " l^l^Gf 

Eleven judges, ----- 11,000 

The clerk of the chancery, . - - 666f 

The attorney general, . - - - 1,000 

Three auditors and a solicitor, - . - 5, 333 J 

Their clerks, 2,000 

The treasurer, ----- 2,000 

His clerks, - - - - - 2,000 

The keeper of the public jail, - . _ 1,000 

The public printer, . - - . l,666f 

Clerks of the inferior courts, - . - 43, 333 J 
Public levy : this is chiefly for the expenses of 

criminal justice, . - . 40,000 

145,1665- 



188 REVENUE. 

145,166-1 

County levy, for bridges, court houses, prisons, &c. 40,000 
Members of congress, . . . . 7,000 

'Quota of the Federal civil list, supposed ^ of about 

78,000, .... 13,000 

Expenses of collection, 6 per cent, on the above, 12,310 

The clergy receive only voluntary contributions : 
suppose them on an average ^ of a dollar a 
tythe on 200,000 tythes, - - - 25,000 

Contingencies, to make round numbers not far 

from truth, - ... - 7,52 3J 



250,000 



Dollars, or 53,571 guineas. This estimate is exclusive of the 
military expense. That varies with the force actually em-- 
ployed, and in time of peace will probably be little or nothing. 
It is exclusive also of the public debts, which are growing 
while I am writing, and cannot therefore be now fixed. So it 
is of the maintenance of the poor, which being merely a mat- 
ter of charity, cannot be deemed expended in the administra- 
tion of government. And if we strike out the 25,000 dollars 
for the services of the clergy, which neither makes part of that 
administration, more than what is paid to physicians or law- 
yers, and being voluntary, is either much or nothing, as every 
one pleases, it leaves 225,000 dollars, equal to 48,208 guineas, 
the real cost of the apparatus of government with us. This, 
divided among the actual inhabitants of our country, comes to 
about two-fifths of a dollar, 21d. sterling, or 42 sols, the price 
which each pays annually for the protection of the residue of 
his property, that of his person, and the other advantages of a 
free government. , The public revenues of Great Britain, divi- 
ded in like manner on its inhabitants, would be sixteen times 
greater. Deducting even the double of the expenses of gov- 
ernment, as before estimated, from the million and a half of 
dollars which we before supposed might be annually paid with- 
out distress, we may conclude that this State can contribute 



REVENUE. 189 

one million of dollars annually towards supporting the federal 
army, paying the federal debt, building a federal navy, or 
opening roads, clearing rivers, forming safe ports, and other 
useful works. 

To this estimate of our abilities, let me add a word as to the 
application of them, if, when cleared of the present contest, 
and of the debts with which that will charge us, we come to 
measure force hereafter with any European power. Such 
events are devoutly to be deprecated. Young as we are, and 
with such a country before us to fill with people and with hap- 
piness, we should point in that direction the whole generative 
force of nature, wasting none of it in efforts of mutual destruc- 
tion. It should be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and 
friendship of every nation, even of that which has injured us 
most, when we shall have carried our point against her. Our 
interest will be to throw open the doors of commerce, and to 
knock off all its shackles, giving perfect freedom to all per- 
sons for the vent of whatever they may choose to bring into 
our ports, and asking the same in theirs. Never was so much 
false arithmetic employed on any subject, as that which has 
been employed to persuade nations that it is their interest to 
go to war. Were the money which it has cost to gain, at 
the close of a long war, a little town, or a little territory, the 
right to cut wood here, or to catch fish there, expended in 
improving what they already possess, in making roads, opening 
rivers, building ports, improving the arts, and finding employ- 
ment for their idle poor, it would render them much stronger, 
much wealthier and happier. This I hope will be our wisdom. 
And, perhaps, to remove as much as possible the occasions of 
making war ; it might be better for us to abandon the ocean 
altogether, that being the element whereon we shall be princi- 
pally exposed to jostle with other nations : to leave to others 
to bring what we shall want, and to carry what we can spare. 
This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by offering none 
of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens 
to the cultivation of the earth ; and, I repeat it again, culti- 
vators of the earth are the most virtuous and independent 



190 REVENUE. 

citizens. It might be time enough to seek employment for 
them at sea, when the land no longer offers it. But the actual 
habits of our countrymen attach them to commerce. They 
will exercise it for themselves. Wars then must sometimes be 
our lot ; and all the wise can do, will be to avoid that half of 
them which would be produced by our own follies, and our own 
acts of injustice ; and to make for the other half the best 
preparations we can. Of what nature should these be? A 
land army would be useless for offence, and not the best nor 
safest instrument of defence. For either of these purposes, 
the sea is the field on which ayc should meet an European 
enemy. On that element it is necessary we should possess 
some power. To aim at such a navy as the greater nations of 
Europe possess, would be a foolish and wicked waste of the 
energies of our countrymen. It would be to pull on our own 
heads that load of military expense, which makes the Euro- 
pean laborer go supperless to bed, and moistens his bread 
with the sweat of his brows. It will be enough if we enable 
ourselves to prevent insults from those nations of Europe 
which are weak on the sea, because circumstances exist, which 
render even the stronger ones weak as to us. Providence has 
placed their richest and most defenceless possessions at our 
door ; has obliged their most precious commerce to pass as 
it were in review before us. To protect this, or to assail us, a 
small part only of their naval force will ever be risked across 
the Atlantic. The dangers to which the elements expose 
them here are too well known, and the greater dangers to 
which they would be exposed at home, were any general 
calamity to involve their whole fleet. They can attack us by 
detachment only ; and it will suffice to make ourselves equal 
to what they may detach. Even a smaller force than the}- 
may detach will be rendered equal or superior by the quick- 
ness with which any check may be repaired with us, while 
losses with them will be irreparable till too late. A small 
naval force then is sufficient for us, and a small one is neces- 
sary. What this should be, I will not undertake to say. I will 
only say, it should by no means be so great as we are able to 



REVENUE. 191 

make it. Suppose the million of dollars, or tliree hundred thou- 
sand pounds, which Virginia could annually spare mthout dis- 
tress, to be applied to the creating a navy. A single year's con- 
tribution would build, equip, man, and send to sea a force which 
should carry 300 guns. The rest of the confederacy, exert- 
ing themselves in the same proportion, would equip in the 
same time 1,500 guns more. So that one year's contributions 
would set up a navy of 1,800 guns. The British ships of the 
line average 76 guns ; their frigates 38. Eighteen hundred 
guns then would form a fleet of 30 ships, 18 of which might 
be of the line, and 12 frigate* Allowing 8 men, the British 
average, for every gun, their annual expense, including subsis- 
tence, clothing, pay, and ordinary repairs, would be about 
1,280 dollars for every gun, or 2,304,000 dollars for the 
whole. I state this only as one year's possible exertion, with- 
out deciding whether more or less than a year's exertion 
should be thus applied. 

The value of our lands and slaves, taken conjunctly, doubles 
in about twenty years. This arises from the multiplication of 
our slaves, from the extension of culture, and increased de- 
mand for lands. The amount of what may be raised will of 
course rise in the same proportion. 



192 HISTORIES, AC. 



QUERY XXIII 



THE HISTORIES OF THE STATE, THE MEMORIALS PUBLISHED 
IN ITS NAME IN THE TIME OF ITS BEING A COLONY, AND 
THE PAMPHLETS RELATING TO ITS INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR 
AFFAIRS, PRESENT OR ANCIENT? 

Captain Smith, "who, next to Sir Walter Raleigh, may be 
considered as the founder of our colony, has written its his- 
tory from the first adventures to it till the year 1624. He 
was a member of the council, and afterwards President of the 
colony ; and to his efforts principally may be ascribed its 
support against the opposition of the natives. He was honest, 
sensible, and well informed; but his style is barbarous and 
uncouth. His history, however, is almost the only soui'ce 
from which we derive any knowledge of the infancy of our 
State. 

The Rev. William Stith, a native of Virginia, and president 
of its college, has also written the history of the same period, 
in a large octavo volume of small print. He was a man of 
classical learning, and very exact, but of no taste in style. 
He is inelegant, therefore, and his details often too minute to 
be tolerable, even to a native of the country whose history he 
writes. 

Beverley, a native also, has run into the other extreme ; 
he has comprised our history, from the first propositions of 
Sir Walter Raleigh to the year 1700, in the hundredth part 
of the space which Stith employs for the fourth part of the 
period. 

Sir William Keith has taken it up at its earliest period, and 
continued it to the year 1725. He is agreeable enough in 
style, and passes over events of little importance. Of course 
he is short, and would be preferred by a foreigner. 



HISTORIES, &C. 193 

During the regal government, some contest arose on the 
exaction of an illegal fee by Governor Dinwiddle, and doubt- 
less there were others on other occasions not at present 
recollected. It is supposed that these are not suflScientlj 
interesting to a foreigner to merit a detail. 

The petition of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia to 
the King, their memorial to the Lords, and remonstrance to 
the Commons in the year 1764, began the present contest : 
and these having proved ineffectual to prevent the passage 
of the stamp act, the resolutions of the House of Burgesses 
of 1765 were passed, declaring the independence of the peo- 
ple of Virginia on the Parliament of Great Britain, in matters 
of taxation. From that time till the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence by Congress in 1776, their journals are filled with 
assertions of the public rights. 

The pamphlets published in this State on the controverted 
question were : 

1766. An Enquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies, 
by Richard Bland. 

1769. The Monitor's Letters, by Dr. Arthur Lee. 

1774. A summary View of the Rights of British America. * 

Considerations, &c., by Robert Carter Nicholas. 

Since the Declaration of Independence this State has had 
no controversy with any other, except with that of Pennsyl- 
vania, on their common boundary. Some papers on this 
subject passed between the Executive and Legislative bodies 
of the two States, the result of which was a happy accommo- 
dation of their rights. 

To this account of our historians, memorials, and pam- 
phlets, it may not be unuseful to add a chronological catalogue 
of American State-papers, as far as I have been able to collect 
their titles. It is far from being either complete or correct. 
Where the title alone, and not the paper itself, has come 
under my observation, I cannot answer for the exactness of 



* By the author of these notes. 

13 



104 HISTORIES, AC. 

the date. Sometimes I have not been able to find any date 
at all, and sometimes have not been satisfied that such a 
paper exists. An extensive collection of papers of thi» de- 
scription has been for some time in a course of preparation 
by a gentleman * fully equal to the task, and from whom, 
therefore, we may hope ere long to receive it. In the mean 
time accept this as the result of my labors, and as closing the 
tedious detail which you have so undesignedly drawn upon 
yourself. 

J 495, Mar. 5. Pro Johanne Caboto et filiis suis super terra incog- 
nita investiganda. 12 Ry. 595. 3. Hakl. 4. 
2. Mem. Am. 409. 

1498, Feb. 3. Billa signata anno 13. Henrici septimi. 3. Hak- 

13. H. 7. 1 ^. • r 

luyt s voiages 5. 

1502, Dec. 19. J)e potcstatibus ad terras incognitas investigandum. 
13. Rymer. 37. 

1540, Oct. 17. Commission de Francois I. a Jacques Cartier pour 
I'establissement du Canada. L'Escarbot. 397. 
2. Mem. Am. 416. 

1543,^2. E. 6. An act against the exaction of money, or any other 
thing, by any officer for license to traffique into 
Iseland and Newfoundland, made in An. 2. Ed- 
wardi sexti. 3. Hakl. 131. 

1578, June 11. The letters patent granted by her Majestic to Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert, knight, for the inhabiting 
and planting of our people in America. 3. Hakl. 
135. 

1583, Feb. 6. Letters patent of Queen Elizabeth to Adrian Gil- 
bert and others, to discover the Northwest pas- 
sage to China. 3. Hakl. 96. 

i564.Mar.25. The letters patent granted by the Queen's Majes- 
tic to M. Walter Raleigh, now knight, for the 
discovering and planting of new lands and coun- 
tries, to continue the space of 6 years and no 
more. 3. Hakl. 243. 

* Mr. Hazard. 



HISTORIES, &C. 195 

An assignment by Sir "Walter Raleigh for continu- Mar. 7. 31. Ei. 

ing the action of inhabiting and planting his 

people in Virginia. Hakl. 1st ed. publ. in 1589, 

p. 815. 
Lettres de Lieutenant General de I'Acadie and 1603, Not. 8. 

pays circonvoisins pour le Sieur de Monts. L'Es- 

carbot. 417. 

Letters patent to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George 1606, Apr. lo. 
o. 1 1 n \ -, ' 4. Jac. 1. 

bomers and others, for two several colonies to 

be made in Virginia and other parts of America. 

Stith, Append. No. 1. 

An ordinance and constitution enlarging the council '^^^'^> ^^^- ^■ 

° ° , 4. Jac. 1. 

of the two colonies in Virginia and America, 

and augmenting their authority, M. S. 
The second charter to the treasurer and company 1609, May 23. 

for Virginia, erecting them into a body politick. 

Stith. Ap. 2. 
Letters patent to the E. of Northampton, grant-i6io, Apr. lo. 

ing part of the island of Newfoundland. 1. 

Harris. 861. 
A third charter to the treasurer and company for i^ii, Mar. 12. 

Virginia. Stith. App. 3. 
A commission to Sir Walter Raleigh. Qu. ? i^i^' ^^*'- ^' 

Commissio specialis concernens le garbling herbse 1620, Apr. 7. 

Nicotianse. 17. Rym. 190. 
A proclamation for restraint of the disordered tra- 1620, June 29. 

ding of tobacco. 17. Rym. 233. 
A grant of New England to the council of Ply- 1620, Nov. 3. 

mouth. 
An ordinance and constitution of the treasurer, 1^21, July 24. 

Jac. 1. 

council, and company in England, for a council 
of state and general assembly in Virginia. Stith. 
App. 4. 
A grant of Nova Scotia to Sir William Alexander. i„^2i, Sep. lo. 

*= 20. Jac. 1. 

2. Mem. de I'Amerique. 193. 
A proclamation prohibiting interloping and disor- ^2nS^^\' ^' 
derly trading to New England in America. 17. 
Rym. 416. 



196 HISTORIES, AC. 

1623, May 9. De Commissione special! Willielmo Jones militi 

21. Jac. 1. ^irecta. 17. %m. 490. 

1623. A grant to Sir Edmund Ploy den, of New Albion. 

Mentioned in Smith's examination. 82. 

1624, July 15. De Commissione Henrico vicecomita Mandevill 

22. Jac. 1. 

and aliis. 17. Rym. 609. 
i624,Aug.26. De commissione speciali concernenti gubernationem 

in Virginia. 17. Rym. 618. 
1624, Sep. 29. A proclamation concerning tobacco. 17 Rym. 621. 

1624, Nov. 9. De concessione demiss. Edwardo Dichfield et aliis. 

22. Jac. 1. -, « -r. /inr> 

17. Rym. 633. 

1625, Mar. 2. A proclamation for the utter prohibiting the impor- 

tation and use of all tobacco which is not of the 
proper growth of the colony of Virginia and the 
Somer islands, or one of them. 17. Rym. 668. 

1625, Mar. 4. De commissiouc directa Georgio Yardeley militi et 
^' ^'''' ^' aliis. 18. Rym. 311. 

1625, Apr. 9. Proclamatio de herba Nicotiana. 18. Rym. 19. 

1. Car. 1. -^ 

May 13. 1. A proclamation for settlinge the plantation of Vir- 
ginia. 18. Rym. 72. 

1625, July 12. A grant of the soil, barony, and domains of Nova 

Scotia to Sir William Alexander of Minstrie. 
2. Mem. Am. 226. 

1626, Jan. 31. Commissio directa Johanni Wolstenholme militi et 
^•^'"'■^' aliis. 18. Ry. 831. 

1626, Feb. 17. A proclamation touching tobacco. Ry. 848. 

^^^l'^^^-^^- A grant of Massachuset's bay by the council of 

qs ? 2. Car. 1. ° _ J J 

Plymouth to Sir Henry Roswell and others. 

1627, Mar. 26. De concessione commissionis specialis pro concilio 

in Virginia. 18. Ry. 980. 
^^2''' ^*'- ^'^- De proclamatione de signatione de tobacco. 18. 

Ry. 886. 
1^27, Aug. 9. De proclamatione pro ordinatione de tobacco. 18. 

Ry. 920. 

1628, Mar. 4. A confirmation of the grant of Massachuset's bay 

3. Car. 1. , , ^ 

by the crown. 



HISTORIES, AC. 19T 

The capitulation of Quebec. Champlain part. 2. 1629, Aug. 19, 
216. 2. Mem. Am. 489. 

A proclamation concerning tobacco. 19. Uj. 235. 1630, Jan. 6. 

Conveyance of Nova Scotia (Port-royal excepted) 1630, Apr. 30. 
by Sir William Alexander to Sir Claude St. 
Etienne Lord of la Tour and of Uarre and to his 
son Sir Charles de St. Etienne Lord of St. Den- 
niscourt, on condition that they continue subjects 
to the king of Scotland under the great seal of 
Scotland. 

A proclamation forbidding the disorderly trading i^^o-'si, Nor 

• 1 1 . X T^ -A . *= 24. 6. Car.l 

With the savages in New England in America, 

especially the furnishing the natives in those and 

other parts of America by the English with 

weapons and habiliments of warre. 19. Ry. 

210. 3. Rushw. 82. 
A proclamation prohibiting the selling arms, &c. 1630, Dec. 5. 

to the savages in America. Mentioned 3. Rushw. 

75. 
A grant of Connecticut by the council of Ply-i630, Car. i. 

mouth to the E. of Warwick. * 

A confirmation by the crown of the grant of Con- 1630, Car. i. 

necticut, [said to be in the petty bag office in 

England.] 
A conveiance of Connecticut by the E. of War- i63i,Mar.io. 

wick to Lord Say and Seal and others. Smith's 

examination, App. No. 1. 
A special commission to Edward Earle of Dorsett 1631, Ju'e 27. 

7. Car. 1. 

and others for the better plantation of the colony 
of Virginia. 19. Ry. 301. 

Litere continentes promissionem regis ad traden- 1631, Ju'e 29. 
dum castrum et habitationem de Kebec in Cana- 
da ad regem Francorum. 19. Ry. 303. 

Traits entre le roy Louis XIII. et Charles roi 1632, Mar. 29.. 
d'Angleterre pour la restitution de la nouvelle 
France, la Cadie et Canada et des navires et 
merchandises pris de part et d'autre. Fait a St.. 
Germain. 19. Ry. 361. 2. Mem. Am. 5. 



198 HISTORIES, &C. 

1632, Ju'e 20. A grant of Maryland to Caecilius Calvert, Baron of 

Baltimore in Ireland. 
^Pc '^^1^ ^' ^ P^titio^ of t^6 planters of Virginia against the 
grant to Lord Baltimore. 

1633, July 3. Qrder of Council upon the dispute between the 

Virginia planters and Lord Baltimore. Votes of 
repres. of Pennsylvania, v. 

^Pp ■^"f * ^^' -A- proclamation to prevent abuses growing by the 
unordered retailing of tobacco. Mentioned 3. 
Rushw. 191. 

^9 ^c ^T ^^* "^ special commission to Thomas Young to search, 
discover and find out what parts are not yet 
inhabited in Virginia and America and other 
parts thereunto adjoining. 19. By. 472. 

1633, Oct. 13. A proclamation for preventing of the abuses grow- 
ing by the unordered retailing of tobacco. 19. 
By. 474. 

1633, Mar. 13. A proclamation restraining the abusive venting of 

tobacco. 19. Rym. 522. 

1634, May 19. A proclamation concerning the landing of tobacco, 

and also forbidding the planting thereof in the 
king's dominions. 19. By. 553. 

1634, Car. 1, A Commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury 

and 11 others for governing the American colo- 
nies, 
^^o^c*^"!^^ ^ commission concerning tobacco. M. S. 

1635, July 18. A commission from Lord Say and Seal, and others, 

to John Winthrop to be Governor of Connecti- 
cut. Smith's App. 

1635, Car. 1. ^ grant to Duke Hamilton. 

1636, Apr. 2. De commissione speciali Johanni Harvey militi 

pro meliori regimine colonise in Virginia. 20. 
By. 3. 

1637, Mar. 14. ^ proclamation concerning tobacco. Title in 3. 

Bushw. 617. 
1636-7, Mar. De commissione speciali Georgio domino Goring et 

16.12. Car. 1. ,.. ^ ^ n- . , f 

aliis concessa concernente venditionem de tobac- 
co absque licentid regid. 20. By. 116. 



HISTORIES, &C. 199 

A proclamation against the disorderly transporting 1637, Apr. 30. 

his Majesty's subjects to the plantations within 

the parts of America. 20. Ry. 143. 3. Rushw. 

409. 
An order of the privy council to stay 8 ships now i^sr, May i. 

in the Thames from going to New England.. 3. * * ' 

Rushw. 409. 
A warrant of the Lord Admiral to stop unconfor- 1637, Car. i. 

mable ministers from going beyond sea. 3. 

Rushw. 410- 
Order of council upon Claiborne's petition against i^-^s, Apr. 4. 

Lord Baltimore. Votes of representatives of 

Pennsylvania, vi. 
An order of the king and council that the attorney 1638, Apr. c. 

general draw up a proclamation to prohibit trans- 
portation of passengers to New England without 

license. 3. Rushw. 718. 
A proclamation to restrain the transporting of pas- 1638, May i. 

sengers and provisions to New England without 

license. 20. Ry. 223. 
A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title 4. 1639, Mar. 25. 

Rushw. 1060. ^'''' ^' 

A proclamation declaring his Majesty's pleasure to 1639, Aug. 19. 

continue his commission and letters patents for 

licensing retailers of tobacco. 20. Ry. 348. 
De commissione speciali Henrico Ashton armigero 1639, Dec. I6. 

O 1 c p 1 

et aliis ad amovendum Henricum Hawley guber- 

natorem de Barbadoes. 20. Ry. 357. 
A proclamation concerning retailers of tobacco. 1639, Car. i. 

4. Rush. 966. 
De constitutione gubernatoris et eoncilii pro Yir-I6fi> Aug. 9. 

^ , ^^ 17. Car. 1. 

ginia. 20. Ry. 484. 
Articles of union and confederacy entered into by 1643, Car. i. 

Massachusets, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New 

Haven. 1. Neale. 223. 
Deed from George Fenwick to the old Connecticut i^'i*, Car. i. 

jurisdiction. 



200 HISTORIES, AC. 

An ordinance of the Lords and Commons assem- 
bled in Parliament, for exempting from custom 
and imposition all commodities exported for, or 
imported from New England, which has been 
very prosperous and without any public charge 
to this State, and is likely to prove very happy 
for the propagation of the gospel in those parts. 
Tit. in Amer. library 90. 5. No date. But 
siBcms by the neighboring articles to have been 
in 1644. 
1644, Ju'e 20. An act for charging of tobacco brought from New 

Car. 2. o o o 

England with custom and excise. Title in Amer- 
ican library. 99. 8. 

1644, Aug. 1. An act for the advancing and regulating the trade 
of this commonwealth. Tit. Amer. libr. 99. 9. 

Sept. ^ 18. 1. Grant of the Northern neck of Virginia to Lord 
Hopton, Lord Jermyn, Lord Culpeper, Sir John 
Berkeley, Sir William Moreton, Sir Dudly Wyatt, 
and Thomas Culpeper. 

1650, Oct. 3. An act prohibiting trade with the Barbadoes, A^ir- 
ginia, Bermudas, and Antego. Scoble's Acts. 
1027. 

1650, Car. 2. A declaration of Lord Willoughby, Governor of 
Barbadoes, and of his council, against an act of 
Parliament of 3d of October, 1650. 4. Polit. 
register. 2. cited from 4. Neale. hist, of the 
Puritans. App. No. 12. but not there. 

1650, Car. 2. A final settlement of boundaries between the Dutch 

New Netherlands and Connecticut. 

1651, Sep. 26. Instructions for Captain Robert Dennis, Mr. Rich- 
Z. Car. 2. ^ ' 

ard Bennet, Mr. Thomas Stagge, and Captain 

William Claibourne, appointed commissioners for 
the reducing of Virginia and the inhabitants 
thereof to their due obedience to the common- 
wealth of England. 1. Thurloe's State papers. 
197. 
^^^p' ^2*' ^' ^'^ ^^* ^^^ increase of shipping and encouragement 
of the navigation of this nation. Scobell's acts. 
1449. 



HISTORIES, &G. 201 

Articles agreed on & concluded at James Cittie 1651-% Mar 
in Virg''^^a for the cjurrendering and settling of * ' 
that plantation under y obedience & gover- 
ment of the common wealth of England, by the 
Commissioners of the Councill of state by au- 
thoritie of the parliamt. of England, & by the 
Grand assembly of the Governour, Councill & 
Burgesses of that countrey. M. S. [Ante. pa. 
122.] 

An act of indempnitie made att the surrender of i65i-'2, Mar. 

, r A -tT- • • T r A -ic^A 1 12-4. Car. 2. 

the countrey [oi Virginia. J [Ante. p. l!:i4.J 
Capitulation de Port Royal. Mem. Am. 507. 1654, Aug. 16. 

A proclamation of the Protector relating to Jamai- 1^^^- Car. 2. 

ca. 3. Thurl. 75. 
The Protector to the commissioners of Maryland. 1655, Sep. 25. 

'' 7. Car. 2. 

A letter. 4. Thurl. 55. 
An instrument made at the council of Jamaica, 1655, Oct. 8. 

7. Car. 2. 

October 8, 1655, for the better carrying on of * 

affairs there. 4. Thurl. 71. 
Treaty of Westminster between France and Eng- 1*555, Nor. 3. 

land. 6. Corps. Diplom. part 2. p. 121. 2. Mem. 

Am. 10. 
The assembly at Barbadoes to the Protector. 4. 1656, Mar. 27. 

Thurl. 651. '■'"■'■ 

A grant by Cromwell to Sir Charles de Saint Eti- 1656, Aug. ». 

enne, a baron of Scotland, Crowne and Temple. 

A French translation of it. 2. Mem. Am. 511. 

paper concerning the advancement of trade. 5. ^^^^> ^"- ^• 

Thurl. 80. 
A brief narration of the English rights to the 1656, Car. 2. 

Northern parts of America. 5. Thurl. 81. 
Mr. R. Bennett and Mr. S. Matthew to Secretary 1656, Oct. lo, 

Thurloe. 5. Thurl. 482. ^* "' ^' 

Objections against the Lord Baltimore's patent, and ^f ^6, Oct. lo. 

reasons why the government of Maryland should 

not be put into his hands. 5. Thurl. 482. 
A paper relating to Maryland. 5. Thurl. 483. \^^car^2' ^*' 

A breviet of the proceedings of the Lord Baltimore 1656, Oct. lo. 

and his ojBicers and compliers in Maryland 



202 HISTORIES, AC. 

against the authority of the Parliament of the 
commonwealth of England and against his High- 
ness the Lord Protector's authority, laws and 
government. 5. Thurl. 486. 

iflse, Oct. 15. ^]je assembly of Virginia to secretary Thurlow. 

«-c»'--2- ^ Thurl. 497. 

1657, Apr. 4. The Govcrnor of Barbadoes to the Protector. 6. 

'•^''•'- Thurl. 169. 

1661, Car. 2. pg^j^j^^ ^f ^j^g general court at Hartford upon 

Connecticut for a charter. Smith's Exam. App. 4. 

1662, Apr. 23. Charter of the colony of Connecticut. Smith's 

14. Car. 2. " 

Exam. App. 6. 
i662-'3. Mar. The first charter granted by Charles II. to the pro- 

24. Apr. 4. _ , . 

15. Car. 2. prietaries of Carolina, to wit : to the Earl of 

Clarendon, Duke of Albemarle, Lord Craven, 
Lord Berkeley, Lord Ashley, Sir George Carte- 
ret, Sir William Berkeley, and Sir John Colleton. 
4. Mem. Am. 554. 

1664, Feb. 10. rpjjg conccssions and agreement of the lords propri- 
etors of the province of New Csesarea, or New 
Jersey, to and with all and every of the adven- 
turers and all such as shall settle or plant there. 
Smith's New Jersey. App. 1. 

'£f *' ^^- ^2- A grant of the colony of New York to the Duke of 

20. Car. 2. ® *' 

York. 
1664, Apr. 26. ^ commission to Colonel Nichols and others to 

16. Car. 2. 

settle disputes in New England. Hutch. Hist. 

Mass. Bay. App. 537. 
1664, Apr. 26. rpj^^ commission to Sir Robert Carre and others to 

put the Duke of York in possession of New 

Y'^ork, New Jersey, and all other lands thereunto 

appertaining. 
Sir Robert Carre and others proclamation to the 

inhabitants of New York, New Jersey, &c. 

Smith's N. J. 36. 
^^^H f "^® o^' Deeds of lease and release of New Jersey by the 

24. 16. C. 2. J J 

Duke of York to Lord Berkeley and Sir George 
Carteret. 



HISTORIES, AC. 203 

A conveiance of the Delaware counties to William 
Penn. 

Letters between Stuyvesant and Colonel Nichols fi664, Aug. 

19 29 20 

on the English right. Smith's N. J. 37. 42. < z(i,2i.A'g. 

Treaty between the English and Dutch for the sur- 1664, Aug. 2r! 

render of the New Netherlands. Sm. N. Jer. 41. 
Nicoll's commission to Sir Robert Carre to reduce September 3. 

the Dutch on Dalaware bay. Sm. N. J. 42. 
Instructions to Sir Robert Carre for reducing of 

Delaware bay and settling the people there un- 
der his Majesty's Obedience. Sm. N. J. 47. 
Articles of capitulation between Sir Robert Carre 1664, Oct'r i. 

and the Dutch and Swedes on Delaware bay and 

Delaware river. Sm. N. J. 49. 
The determination of the commissioners of the ^^'^^> ^®£* ^* 

16. Car. 2. 

boundary between the Duke of York and Con- 
necticut. Sm. Ex. App. 9. 
The New Haven case. Smith's Ex. App. 20. 1664. 

The second charter granted by Charles II. to the ^24.^i7*["c! 2!' 

same proprietors of Carolina. 4. Mem. Am. 586. 
Declaration de guerre par la France contre I'An- ' an. - . 

gleterre. 3. Mem. Am. 123. 
Declaration of war by the King of England against I666, Feb. 9. 

the King of France. 
The treaty of peace between France and England 1667, July 31. 

made at Brada. 7. Corps. Dipl. part 1. p. 41. 

2. Mem. Am. 32. 
The treaty of peace and alliance between England 1 667, July 3i. 

and the United Provinces made at Breda. 7. 

Cor. Dip. p. 1. p. 44. 2. Mem. Am. 40. 
Acte de la cession de I'Acadie au roi de France. 1667-8, Feb'y 

2. Mem. Am. 292. ^^' 

Directions from the Governor and council of New 1668, Apr, 21. 

York for a better settlement of the government 

on Delaware. Sm. N. J. 51. 
Lovelace's order for customs at the Hoarkills. Sm. 166S. 

N. J. 55. 
A confirmation of the grant of the Northern neck I6— , May s. 

21. Car. 2. 

of Virginia to the Earl of St. Alban's, Lord 



204 HISTORIES, AC. 

Berkeley, Sir William Moreton, and John Treth- 

ewaj. 
U72. Incorporation of the town of Newcastle or Amstell. 

^ol%^^\ ^^' -^ demise of the colony of Virginia to the Earl of 

Arlington and Lord Culpeper for 31 years. M. S. 
1673-4. Treaty at London between the King Charles II. 

and the Dutch. Article vi. 
Remonstrances against the two grants of Charles 

II. of Northern and Southern Virginia. Ment. 
1 Beverley. 65. 
1674, July 13. gij. Gcorge Carteret's instructions to Governor 

Carteret. 

1674, Nov. 9. Governor Andros's proclamation on taking posses- 

sion of New Castle for the Duke of York. Sm. 
N. J. 78. 

1675, Oct. i.A proclamation for prohibitins; the importation of 

27. Car. 2. r o r 

commodities of Europe into any of his Majesty's 
plantations in Africa, Asia, or America, which 
were not laden in England : and for putting all 
other laws relating to the trade of the planta- 
tions in effectual execution. 

1676, Mar. 3. rpj^g concessions and agreements of the proprietors, 

freeholders, and inhabitants of the province of 
West New Jersey in America. Sm. N. J. App. 2. 

167«, July 1. A. deed quintipartite for the division of New Jersey. 

1676, Aug. 18. Letter from the proprietors of New Jersey to Rich- 
ard Hartshorne. Sm. N. J. 80. 
Proprietor's instructions to James Wasse and Rich- 
ard Hartshorne. Sm. N. J. 83. 

1676, Oct. 10. The charter of King Charles II. to his subjects of 

28. Car. 2. ^r- ■ ■ i^r a 

Virginia. M. S. 
^^^^- Cautionary epistle from the trustees of Byllinge's 

part of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 84. 

1677, Sep. 10. Indian deed for the lands between Rankokas creek 

and Timber creek, in New Jersey. 
1677, Sep. 27. Indian deed for the lands from Oldman's creek to 
Timber creek, in New Jersey. 



HISTORIES, AC. 205 

Indian deed for the lands from Rankokas creek to 1677, Oct lO- 
Assunpink creek, in New Jersey. 

The will of Sir George Carteret, sole proprietor of 1678. Dec'r 5. 
East Jersey, ordering the same to be sold. 

An order of the King in council for the better en- ^^^^> ^^^' ^^' 
couragement of all his Majesty's subjects in their 
trade to his Majesty's plantations, and for the 
better information of all his Majesty's loving 
subjects in these matters. Lond. Gaz. No. 1596. 
Title in Amer. library. 134. 6. 

Arguments against the customs demanded in New ^^s''- 
West Jersey by the Governor of New York, 
addressed to the Duke's commissioners. Sm. N. 
J. 117. 

Extracts of proceedings of the committee of trade 
and plantations ; copies of letters, reports, &c. 
between the board of trade, Mr. Penn, Lord Bal- 
timore and Sir John Werden, in the behalf of 
the Duke of York and the settlement of the 
Pennsylvania boundaries by the L. C. J. North. 
Votes of Repr. Pennsylvania, vii. xiii. 

A grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn. Votes ^^^^> ^^^* *• 
of Represen. Pennsylvania, xviii. 

The King's declaration to the inhabitants and plan- ^^^^> ^^^' ^' 
ters of the province of Pennsylvania. Votes 
Rep. Penn. xxiv. 

Certain conditions or concessions agreed upon by 1681, July ii. 
William Penn, proprietary and Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, and those who are the adventurers and 
purchasers in the same province. Votes of Rep. 
Pennsylv. xxiv. 
Fundamental laws of the province of West New i^^^* ^^^^^ ^• 

Jersey. Sm. N. J. 126. 
The methods of the commissioners for settlino; and 1681-% Jan'y 

° 14. 

regulation of lands in New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 130. 
Indentures of lease and release by the executors of i68i-'2, Feb'y 

Sir George Carteret to William Penn and 11 ' 

others, conveying East Jersey. 
The Duke of York's fresh grant of East New Jer- 682, Mar. u. 

sey to the 24 proprietors. 



'1680, Juno 

14. 23, 25. 
Oct. 16. 
Nove'ber 4. 

8, 11, 18, 

20, 23. 
Dece'er 16. 
1680-'l,J'n. 

15. 22. 
Feb. 24. 



206 HISTORIES, AC. 

1682, Apr. 25. The frame of the government of the province of 
Pennsylvania, in America. Votes of Repr. 
Penn. xxvii. 

1682, Aug. 21. The Duke of York's deed for Pennsylvania. Yo. 
Repr. Penn. xxxv. 

iG82,Aug.24.The Duke of York's deed of feoffment of New- 
castle and twelve miles circle to William Penn. 
Yo. Repr. Penn. 

1682, Aug. 24. The Duke of York's deed of feoffment of a tract 
of land 12 miles South from Newcastle to the 
Whorekills, to William Penn. Yo. Repr. Penn. 
xxxvii. 

1682, Nov. 27. A commission to Thomas Lord Culpeper to be 
Lieutenant and Governor General of Yirginia. 
M. S. 

I682,i0thm'h^n act of union for annexing and uniting of the 
counties of Newcastle, Jones' and Whorekill's 
alias Deal, to the province of Pennsylvania, and 
of naturalization of all foreigners in the province 
and counties aforesaid. 

1682, Dec. 6. An act of settlement. 

1683, Apr. 2. The frame of the government of the province of 

Pennsylvania and territories thereunto annexed 
in America. 
1683, Apr. 17, 27. 1684, Feb. 12. 1685, Mar. 17. ] Proceedings of the 

May 30. July 2, 16, 23. Aug. IS, 26. . » 

June 12. Sept. 30. Sept. 2. \- committee of trade 

Dec. 9. Oct. 8, 17, 31. I , , , ^ . 

Not. 7. J and plantations in 
the dispute between Lord Baltimore and Mr. Penn. Yo. R. 

P. xiii — xviii. 
1683, July 17- A commission by the proprietors of East New Jer- 
sey to Robert Barclay to be Governor. Sm. N. 
J. 166. 
1683, July 26. An Order of council for issuing a quo warranto 
' ^' "* ■ against the charter of the colony of the Massa- 

chuset's bay in New England, with his Majesty's 
declaration, that in case the said corporation of 
Massachuset's bay shall before prosecution had 
upon the same quo warranto make a full submis- 
sion and entire resignation to his royal pleasure, 



HISTORIES, &0. 207 

he will then regulate their charter in such a man-^ 
ner as shall be for his service and the good of 
that colony. Title in Amer. Library. 139, 6. 

A commission to Lord Howard of Effingham to be 168?., Sep. 23. 
Lieutenant and Governor General of Virginia. 
M. S. 

The humble address of the chief Governor, Council 1684, May s. 
and Representatives of the island of Nevis, in 
the West Indies, presented to his Majesty by 
Colonel Netheway and Captain Jefferson, at 
Windsor, May 3, 1684. Title in Amer. Libr., 
142, 3. Cites Lond. Gaz., No. 1927. 

A treaty -with the Indians at Albany. 16S4, Aug. 2. 

A treaty of neutrality for America between France lese, Nov.ie. 
and England. 7. Corps. Dipl., part 2, p. 44. 
2. Mem. Am. 40. 

By the King, a proclamation for the more effectual] 687, Jan. 20 . 
reducing and suppressing of pirates and priva- 
teers in America, as well on the sea as on the 
land in great numbers, committing frequent rob- 
beries and piracies, which hath occasioned a 
great prejudice and obstruction to trade and 
commerce, and given a great scandal and dis- 
turbance to our government in those parts. Title 
Amer. Libr., 147, 2. Cites Lond. Gaz., No. 2815. 

Constitution of the council of proprietors of West 16S7, Feb, 12. 
Jersey. Smith's N. Jersey. 199. 

A confirmation of the grant of the Northern Neck 1687, qu? Sep. 
of Virginia to Lord Culpeper. 

Governor Coxe's declaration to the council of pro- 1687, Sept. 5, 
prietors of West Jersey. Sm. N. J. 190. 

Provisional treaty of Whitehall concerning Ame- 1687, Dec. 16, 
rica between France and England. 2. Mem. de 
r Am. 89. 

Governor Coxe's narrative relating to the division 1637. 
line, directed to the council of proprietors of 
West Jersey. Sm. App., No. 4. 



208 BISTORIES, <feC. 

1687. The representation of the council of proprietors of 

West Jersey to Governor Burnet. Smith. App. 
No. 5. 

The remonstrance and petition of the inhabitants 
of East New Jersey to the King. Sm. App. 
No. 8. 

The memorial of the proprietors of East New Jer- 
sey to the Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. 9. 

1688, Sept. 5. Agreement of the line of partition between East 

and West New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 196. 
1691. Conveiance of the government of West Jersey 

and territories by Dr. Coxe, to the West Jersey 

Society. 
1691, Oct'r 7. A charter granted by King William and Queen 

Mary to the inhabitants of the province of 

Massachuset's bay in New England. 2. Mem. 

de r Am. 593. 

1696, Nov. 7. The frame of government of the province of Penn- 

sylvania and the territories thereunto belonging, 
passed by Governor Markham. Nov. 7, 1696. 

1697, Sep. 20. The treaty of peace between France and England, 

made at Ryswick. 7. Corps. Dipl., part 2, p. 
399. 2. Mem. Am. 89. 

1699, July 5. The opinion and answer of the Lords of trade to 

the memorial of the proprietors of East New 
Jersey. Sm. App. No. 10. 

1700, Jan. 15. The memorial of the proprietors of East New Jer- 

sey to the Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. 11. 
The petition of the proprietors of East and West 
New Jersey to the Lords justices of England. 
Sm. App. No. 12. 

1700, w. 3. A confirmation of the boundary between the colo- 

nies of New York and Connecticut, by the 
Crown. 

1701, Aug. 12 The memorial of the proprietors of East and West 

Jersey to the King. Sm. App. No. 14. 
1701, Oct. 2. Representation of the Lords of trade to the Lords 
justices. Sm. App. No. 13. 



HISTORIES, AC. 209 

A treaty with the Indians. i^*^l' 

Report of Lords of trade to King William of i70i-'2, J'n 6. 

draughts of a commission and instructions for a 

Governor of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 262. 
Surrender from the proprietors of E. and W. N. ^^"^^j Apr. 15. 

Jersey of their pretended right of government 

to her Majesty Q. Anne. Sm. N. J. 211. 
The Queen's acceptance of the surrender of govern- 1^*^2, Apr. 17. 

ment of East and West Jersey. Sm. N. J. 219. 
Instructions to Lord Cornbury. Sm. N. J. 230. 1702, Nov. u. 
A commission from Queen Anne to Lord Corn- 1702, Dee. 5. 

bury, to be Captain General and Governor in 

Chief of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 220. 
Recognition by the council of proprietors of the 1703, Ju'e 27. 

true boundary of the deeds of Sept. 10, and Oct. 

10, 1677. (New Jersey.) Sm. N. J. 96. 
Indian deed for the lands above the falls of the ^'''^^* 

Delaware in West Jersey. 
Indian deed for the lands at the head of Rankokas 

River, in West Jersey. 
A proclamation by Queen Anne for settling and 1704, Ju'o 18. 

ascertaining the current rates of foreign coins in 

America. Sm. N. J. 281. 
Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. Sm. 1705, May 3. 

N. J. 235. 
Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. Sm. 1707, May 3. 

N. J. 258. 
Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. Sm. 1707, Nor. 20. 

N. J. 259. 
An answer by the council of proprietors for the 1707. 

Western division of New Jersey, to questions 

proposed to them by Lord Cornbury. Sm. N. 

J. 285. 
Instructions to Colonel Vetch in his negotiations ^|^8-'9, Feb'y 

with the Governors of America. Sm. N. J. 364. 
Instructions to the Governor of New Jersey and ]\^^'^' ^^^'^ 

York. Sm. N. J. 361. 
14 



210 HISTORIES, &C. 

1710, August. Earl of Dartmouth's letter to Governor Hunter, 
irii, Apr. 22. Premieres propositions de la France. 6. Lamber- 

ty,.669. 2. Mem. Am. 341. 

1711, Oet'r s. R^ponses de la France aux demandes pr^liminaires 

de la Grande Bretagne. 6. Lamb. 681. 2, 

Mem. Amer. 344. 
Sept. 27. Demandes pr^liminaires plus particulieres de la 
Octo'r s. Grande Bretagne, avec les reponses. 2. Mem. 
<, <,. de r Am. 346. 

Sept. 2i. 

1711» — —- L' acceptation de la part de la Grande Bretagne. 
^''°'^' 2, Mem. Am. 356. 

1711, Dec. 23. The Queen's instructions to the Bishop of Bristol 

and Earl of Strafford, her plenipotentiaries, to 
treat of a general peace. 6. Lamberty, 744. 
2. Mem. Am. 358. 
May 24. A memorial of Mr. St. John to the Marquis de 
'june 10. Torci, with regard to North America, to com- 
merce, and to the suspensions of arms. 7. Re- 
cueil de Lamberty, 161. 2. Mem. de I'Amer. 
376. 

1712, Ju'e 10. Reponse du roi de France au memoire de Londres. 

7. Lamberty, p. 163. 2. Mem. Am. 380. 
1712, Aug. 19. Traits pour une suspension d' armes entre Louis 
XIV. roi de France, k Anne, reigne de la 
Grande Bretagne, fait a Paris. 8. Corps. Dipl., 
part 1, p. 308. 2. Mem. d' Am. 104. 
1712, Sep. 10. Offers of France to England, demands of Eng- 
land, and the answers of France. 7. Rec. de 
Lamb. 491. 2. Mem. Am. 390. 
Mar. 31. Traitd de paix & d' amiti^ entre Louis XIV. roi de 
Apr'iii. France, & Anne, reigne de la Grande Bretagne, 
fait ^ Utrecht. 15. Corps Diplomatique de 
Dumont, 339. id. Latin. 2. Actes & memoires 
de la pais d' Utrecht, 457. id. Lat. Fr. 2. 
Mem. Am. 113. 
3iar. 31. Traits de navigation & de commerce entre Louis 
Apr'i 11. XIV. roi de France, & Anne, reigne de la 



171 



171.3, 



HISTORIES, &C. 211 

Grande Bretagne. Fait a Utrecht. 8. Corps. 

Dipl., part 1, p. 345. 2. Mem. de 1' Am. 137. 
A treaty with the Indians. 172C. 

The petition of the representatives of the province i''23, Janu'j. 

of New Jersey, to have a distinct Governor, 

Sm. N. J. 421. 
Deed of release by the government of Connecticut 1732, g. 2. 

to that of New York. 
The charter granted by George II. for Georgia. 4. ^^^^^ J^'| ^> 

Mem. de I'Am. 617. 
Petition of Lord Fairfax, that a commission might 1733. 

issue for running and marking the dividing line 

between his district and the province of Virginia. 
Order of the King in council for co^nmissioners to 1733, Nov. 29-. 

survey and settle the said divitftng line between 

the proprietary and royal territory. 
Report of the Lords of trade relating to the sepa- 1736, Aug. 5. 

rating the government oi the province of New 

Jersey from New Yori. Sm. N. J. 423. 
Survey and report of 'he commissioners appointed 1737, Aug. lo. 

on the part of th^ Crown to settle the line be- 
tween the Cro-\m and Lord Fairfax. 
Survey and rep<)rt of the commissioners appointed 1737, Aug.ii. 

on the pa^t of Lord Fairfax to settle the line 

between the Crown and him. 
Order o/ reference of the surveys between the 1738, Dec. 21. 

Croivn and Lord Fairfax to the council for plan- 
tation affairs. 
T/eaty with the Indians of the Six Nations at Lan- 1744, June. 

caster. 
Report of the council for plantation affairs, fixing 1745, April c. 

the head springs of Rappahanoc and Patowmac, 

and a commission to extend the line. 
Order of the King in council confirming the said 1745, Apr. u. 

report of the council for plantation affairs. 
Articles pr^liminaires pour parvenir a la paix, 1748, Apr. 30. 

sign^s a Aix la Chapelle entre les ministres de 

France, de la Grande Bretagne, & des Provinces 

Unies des Pays Bas. 2. Mem. de V Am. 159. 



212 HISTORIES, AC. 

1748, May 21. Declaration des ministres de France, de la Grande 
Bretagne, & des Provinces TJnies des Pays Bas, 
pour rectifier les articles I. & II. des pr^- 
liminaires. 2. Mem. Am. 165. 

^''^^k^^P 1' The general and definitive treaty of peace con- 
cluded at Aix la Chapelle. Lond. Mag. 1748. 
503 French. 2. Mem. Am. 169. 

1754. A treaty with the Indians. 

1755, Aug. 7. \ conference between Governor Bernard and In- 

dian nations at Burlington. Sm. N. J. 449. 
1758, Oct'r 8. A conference between Governor Denny, Governor 
Bernard and others, and Indian nations at 
Easton. Sm. N. J. 455. 

i759,Juiy25. Tiie capitulation of Niasrara. 

33. G. 2. / o 

175—. The King's proclamation promising lands to soldiers. 

1763, Feb. 10. The definitive treaty concluded at Paris. Lond. 
^' ^' ^' Mag., 1763. 149. 

1763, Oct'r 7. A proclamation for regulating the cessions made 
'^•^' by the last treaty o^ peace. Guth. Geogr. 

Gram. 623. 
1763. The King's proclamation against settling on any 

lands on the waters, westward of the Alleghaney. 
1768, Nov. 3. Deed from the Six Nations of In^iians to William 

Trent and others for lands betwixt the Ohio and 

Monongahela. View of the title to Indiana. 

Phil. Styner and Cist. 1776. 
1768, Nov. 5. Deed from the Six Nations of Indians to the ^Jrown 

for certain lands and settling a boundary. M. S. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I 



The preceding sheets having been submitted to my friend 
Mr. Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, he has fur- 
nished me with the following observations, which have too 
much merit not to be communicated : 

(1.) p. 15. Besides the three channels of communication men- 
tioned between the western waters and the Atlantic, there are two 
others, to which the Pennsylvanians are turning their attention; 
one from Presque Isle on Lake Erie, to Le Boeuf, down the Alle- 
ghaney to Kiskiminitas, then up the Kiskiminitas, and from thence, 
by a small portage, to Juniata, which falls into the Susquehanna: 
the other from Lake Ontario to the East Branch of the Delaware, 
and down that to Philadelphia. Both these are said to be very 
practicable : and, considering the enterprising temper of the Penn- 
sylvanians, and particularly of the merchants of Philadelphia, whose 
object is concentered in promoting the commerce and trade of one 
city, it is not improbable but one or both of these communications 
will be opened and improved. 

(2.) p. 18. The reflections I was led into on viewing this passage 
of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge were, that this country 
must have suffered some violent convulsion, and that the face of it 
must have been changed from what it probably was some centuries 
ago : that the broken and ragged faces of the mountain on each side 
of the river; the tremendous rocks, which are left with one end 
fixed in the precipice, and the other jutting out, and seemingly 
ready to fall for want of support; the bed of the river for several 
miles below obstructed, and filled with the loose stones carried from 
this mound; in short, every thing on which you cast your eye 
evidently demonstrates a disrupture and breach in the mountain, 



214 APPENDIX. 

and that, before tliis happened, what is now a fruitful vale, was 
formerly a great lake or collection of water, which possibly might 
have here formed a mighty cascade, or had its vent to the ocean 
by the Susquehanna, where the Blue Ridge seems to terminate. 
Besides this, there are other parts of this country which bear evi- 
dent traces of a like convulsion. From the best accounts I have 
been able to obtain, the place where the Delaware now flows through 
the Kittatinny mountain, which is a continuation of what is called 
the North ridge, or mountain, was not its original course, but that 
it passed through what is now called ' the Wind-gap,' a place several 
miles to the westward, and above an hundred feet higher than the 
present bed of the river. This Wind-gap is about a mile broad, 
and the stones in it such as seem to have been washed for ages 
by water running over them. Should this have been the case, 
there must have been a large lake behind that mountain, and, by 
■some uncommon swell in the waters, or by some convulsion of 
nature, the river must have opened its way through a different 
part of the mountain, and meeting there with less obstruction, 
carried away with it the opposing mounds of earth, and deluged 
the country below with the immense collection of waters to which 
this new passage gave vent. There are still remaining, and daily 
discovered, innumerable instances of such a deluge on both sides 
of the river, after it passed the hills above the falls of Trenton, 
;md reached the champaign. On the New Jersey side, which is 
flatter than the PennsylvaLia side, all the country below Croswick 
hills seems to have been overflowed to the distance of from ten to 
lifteen miles back from the river, and to have acquired a new soil 
by the earth and clay brought down and mixed with the native 
sand. The spot on which Philadelphia stands evidently appears 
to be made ground. The different strata through which they pass 
in digging to water, the acorns, leaves, and sometimes branches, 
which are found above twenty feet below the surface, all seem to 
demonstrate this. I am informed that at York Town in Virginia, 
in the bank of the York River, there are' different strata of shells 
and earth, one above another, which seem to point out that the 
country there has undergone several changes ; that the sea has, for 
■A. succession of ages, occupied the place where dry land now appears ; 
and that the ground has been suddenly raised at various periods. 
What a change would it make in the country below, should the 



APPENDIX. 215 

mottntains at Niagara, by any accident, be cleft asunder, and a 
passage suddenly opened to drain off the waters of Erie and the 
(Jpper lakes ! While ruminating on these subjects, I "have often 
been hurried away by fancy, and led to imagine, that what is now 
the bay of Mexico, was once a champaign country ; and that from 
the point or cape of Florida, there was a continued range of moun- 
tains through Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Martinique, Guada- 
loupe, Barbadoes, and Trinidad, till it reached the coast of America, 
and formed the shores which bounded the ocean, and guarded the 
country behind : that, by some convulsion or shock of nature, the 
sea had broken through these mounds, and deluged that vast plain, 
till it reached the foot of the Andes; that being there heaped up 
by the trade-winds, always blowing from one quarter, it had found 
its way back, as it continues to do, through the Grulf between 
Florida and Cuba, carrying with it the loam and sand it may have 
scooped from the country it had occupied, part of wljich it may 
have deposited on the shores of North America, and with part 
formed the banks of Newfoundland. But these are only the visions 
of fancy. 

(3.) p. 38. There is a plant or weed, called the Jamestown 
weed, * of a very singular quality. The late Dr. Bond informed me, 
that he had under his care a patient, a young girl, who had pat 
the seeds of this plant into her eye, which dilated the pupil to 
such a degree, that she could see in the dark, but in the light was 
almost blind. The effect that the leaves had when eaten by a ship's 
crew that arrived at Jamestown, are well known, f 

(4.) p. 69. Mons. Buffon has indeed given an afflicting picture 
of human nature in his description of the man of America. But 
sure I am there never was a picture more unlike the original. He 
ffrants indeed that his stature is the same as that of the man cf 
Europe. He might have admitted, that the Iroquois were larger, 
and the Lenopi, or Dela wares, taller than people in Europe gene- 
rally are. But he says their organs of generation are smaller and 
weaker than those of Europeans. Is this a fact? I believe not; 
at least it is an observation I never heard before. ' They have no 



* Datara pericarpiis erectis ovatis. — Linn. 

f An instance of temporary imbecility produced by them is mentioned — Beverly 
H. of Virg. B. 2, c. 4. 



216 APPENDIX. 

beard.' Had he known the pains and trouble it costs the men to 
pluck out by the roots the hair that grows on their faces, he 
would have seen that Nature had not been deficient in that respect. 
Every nation has its customs. I have seen an Indian beau, with 
a looking-glass in his hand, examining his face for hours together, 
and plucking out by the roots every hair he could discover, with 
a kind of tweezer made of a piece of fine brass wire, that had 
been twisted around a stick, and which he used with great dexterity. 
'They have no ardor for their female.' It is true, they do not 
indulge those excesses, nor discover that fondness which is custom- 
ary in Europe; but this is not owing to a defect in nature, but 
to manners. Their soul is wholly bent upon war. This is what 
procures them glory among the men, and makes them the admiration 
of the women. To this they are educated from their earliest 
youth. When they pursue game with ardor, when they bear the 
fatigues of the chase, when they sustain and sufier patiently hunger 
and cold ; it is not so much for the sake of the game they pursue, 
as to convince their parents and the council of the nation that they 
are fit to be enrolled in the number of the warriors. The songs 
of the women, the dance of the warriors, the sage counsel of the 
chiefs, the tales of the old, the triumphal entry of the warriors 
returning with success from battle, and the respect paid to those 
who distinguish themselves in war and in subduing their enemies; 
in short, every thing they see or hear tends to inspire them with 
an ardent desire for military fame. If a young man were to dis- 
cover a fondness for women before he has been to war, he would 
become the contempt of the men, and the scorn and ridicule of the 
women. Or were he to indulge himself with a captive taken in war, 
and much more were he to ofifer violence in order to gratify his lust, 
he would incur indelible disgrace. The seeming frigidity of the men, 
therefore, is the efieet of manners, and not a defect of nature. Be- 
sides, a celebrated warrior is oftener courted by the females, than he 
has occasion to court : and this is a point of honor which the men 
aim at. Instances familiar to that of Ruth and Boaz* are not un- 
common among them. For though the women are modest and difii- 
dent, and so bashful that they seldom lift up their eyes, and scarce 



*When Boaz had eaten and drank, and his heart was merry, he went to lie 
down at the end of the heap of corn; and Ruth came softly and uncovered his 
feet and laid her down. — Ruth iii. 7. 



APPENDIX. ' 217 

ever look a man full in the face, yet, being brought up in great 
subjection, custom and manners reconcile them to modes of acting, 
which, judged of by Europeans, would be deemed inconsistent with 
the rules of female decorum and propriety. I once saw a young 
widow, whose husband, a warrior, had died about eight days before, 
hastening to finish her grief, and who by tearing her hair, beating 
her breast, and drinking spirits, made the tears flow in great abun- 
dance, in order that she might grieve much in a short space of time, 
and be married that evening to another young warrior. The manner 
in which this was viewed by the men and women of the tribe, who 
stood round, silent and solemn spectators of the scene, and the 
indifference with which they answered my question reripecting it, 
convinced me that it was no unusual custom. I have known men 
advanced in years, whose wives were old and past child-bearing, 
take young wives, and have children, though the practice of poly- 
gamy is not common. Does this savour of frigidity, or want of 
ardor for the female ? Neither do they seem to be deficient in natu- 
ral afiection. I have seen both fathers and mothers in the deepest 
afiliction, when their children have been dangerously ill ; tkough I 
believe the affection is stronger in the descending than the ascending^ 
scale, and though custom forbids a father to grieve immoderately 
for a son slain in battle. 'That they are timorous and cowardly,' 
is a character with which there is little reason to charge them, when 

we recollect the manner in which the Iroquois met Mons. ,. 

who marched into their country ; in which the old men, who scorned 
to fly, or to survive the capture of their town, braved death, like the 
old Romans in the time of the Gauls, and in which they soon after 
revenged themselves by sacking and destroying Montreal. But above 
all, the unshaken fortitude with which they bear the most excrucia- 
ting tortures and death when taken prisoners, ought to exempt them 
from that character. Much less are they to be characterised as a 
people of no vivacity, and who are excited to action or motion only 
by the calls of hunger and thirst. Their dances, in which they so 
much delight, and which to a European would be the most severe 
exercise, fully contradict this, not to mention their fatiguing mar- 
ches, and the toil they voluntarily and cheerfully undergo in their 
military expeditions. It is true, that when at home, they do not 
employ themselves in labor or the culture of the soil : but this 
again is the effect of customs and manners, which have assigned 
that to the province of the women. But it is said, they are averse 



218 APPENDIX. 

to society and a social life. Can any thing be more inapplicable 
than this to a people who always live in towns or clans ? Or can 
they be said to have no * republique/ who conduct all their aflfairs 
in national councils, who pride themselves in their national character, 
who consider an insult or injury done to an individual by a stranger 
as done to the whole, and resent it accordingly ? In short, this 
picture is not applicable to any nation of Indians I have ever known 
or heard of in North America. 

(5.) p. 104. As far as I have been able to learn, the country 
from the sea coast to the Alleghaney, and from the most southern 
waters of James river up to Patuxent river, now in the State of 
Maryland, was occupied by three different nations of Indians, each 
of which spoke a different language, and were under separate and 
distinct governments. What the original or real names of those 
nations were, I have not been able to learn with certainty : but by 
us they are distinguished by the names of Powhatkns, Mannahoacs, 
and Monacans, now commonly called Tusc-aroras. The Powhatans, 
who occupied the country from the sea shore up to the falls of the 
rivers, were a powerful nation, and seem to have consisted of seven 
tribes, five on the western and two on the eastern shore. Each of 
these tribes were subdivided into towns, families, or clans, who lived 
together. All the nations of Indians in North America lived in the 
hunter state, and depended for subsistence on hunting, fishing, and 
the spontaneous fruits of the earth, and a kind of grain which was 
planted and gathered by the women, and is now known by the name 
of Indian corn. Long potatoes, pumpkins of various kinds, and 
squashes were also found in use among them. They had no flocks, 
herds, or tamed animals of any kind. Their government is a kind 
of patriarchal confederacy. Every town or ftimily has a chief, who 
is distinguished by a particular title, and whom we commonly call 
' Sachem.' The several towns or families that compose a tribe, have 
a chief who presides over it, and the several tribes bomposing a 
nation have a chief who presides over the whole nation. These chiefs 
are generally men advanced in years, and distinguished by their pru- 
dence and abilities in council. The matters which merely regard a 
town or family are settled by the chief and principal men of the 
town : those which regard a tribe, such as the appointment of head 
warriors or captains, and settling differences between different towns 
and families, are regulated at a meeting or council of the chiefs from 



APPENDIX. 219 

the several towns ; and those which regard the whole nation, such as 
the making war, concluding peace, or forming alliances with the 
neighboring nations, are deliberated on and determined in a national 
council composed of the chiefs of the tribe, attended by the head 
warriors and a number of the chiefs from the towns, who are his 
counsellors. In every town there is a council house, where the chief 
and old men of the town assemble, when occasion requires, and con- 
sult what is proper to be done. Every tribe has a fixed place for the 
chiefs of the towns to meet and consult on the business of the tribe : 
and in every nation there is what they call the central council house, 
or central council fire, where the chiefs of the several tribes, with the 
principal warriors convene to consult and determine on their national 
aflfairs. When any matter is proposed in the national council, it is 
common for the chiefs of the several tribes to consult thereon apart 
with their counsellors, and, when they have agreed, to deliver the 
opinion of the tribe at the national council : and, as their govern- 
ment seems to rest wholly on persuasion, they endeavor, by mutual 
concessions, to obtain unanimity. Such is the government that still 
subsists among the Indian nations bordering upon the United States. 
Some historians seem to think, that the dignity of ofl&ce of Sachem 
was hereditary. But that opinion does not appear to be well founded. 
The Sachem or chief of the tribe seems to be by election. And 
sometimes persons who are strangers, and adopted into the tribe, are 
promoted to this dignity, on account of their abilities. Thus on the 
arrival of Captain Smith, the fii'st founder of the colony of Virginia, 
Opechiincanough, who was Sachem or Chief of the Chickahominies, 
one of the tribes of the Powhatans, is said to have been of another 
tribe, and even of another nation, so that no certain account could be 
obtained of his origin or descent. The chiefs of the nations seem to 
have been by a rotation among the tribes. Thus when Captain 
Smith, in the year 1609, questioned Powhatan (who wafs the chief of 
the nation, and whose proper name is said to have been Wahunsona- 
cock,) respecting the succession, the old chief informed him, "that 
he was very old and had seen the death of all his people thrice ; * 

* This is one generation more than the poet ascribes to. the life of Nestor. 

Tto 8 i/jSri Svo fiiv yevsai jttfportcov avOpi^iftcov 
'E^Ovad 6't ot cspoaQsv afia -tpd^sv i^8 iyivovto 
Ev ni;^9 ^%a6i'*i} jitsfa bs Ttpitdtolaiv oivaaoiv. 

1. HOM. 11. 250. 



220 APPENDIX. 

that not one of these generations were then living except himself, 
that he must soon die and the succession descend in order to his 
brothers Opichapan, Opechiincanough, and Cattataugh, and then to 
his two sisters, and their two daughters." But these were appella- 
tions designating the tribes in the confederacy. For the persons 
named are not his real brothers, but the chiefs of different tribes. 
Accordingly in 1618, when Powhatan died, he was succeeded by 
Opichapan, and after his decease Opechiineanough became chief of 
the nation. I need only mention another instance to shew that the 
chiefs of the tribes claimed this kindred with the head of the nation. 
In 1622, when Raleigh Crashaw was with Japaztiw, the Sachem or 
chief of the Patowmacs, Opechancanough, who had great power and 
influence, being the second man in the nation, and next in succession 
to Opichapan, and who was a bitter but secret enemy to the English, 
and wanted to engage his nation in a war with them, sent two baskets 
of beads to the Patowmac chief, and desired him to kill the English- 
man that was with him. Japazaw replied, that the English were his 
friends, and Opichapan his hrotlier, and that therefore there should 
be no blood shed between them by his means. It is also to be 
observed, that when the English first came over, in all their confer- 
ences with any of the chiefs, they constantly heard him make men- 
tion of his hrotlier, with whom he must consult, or to whom they 
referred them, meaning thereby either the chief of the nation, or the 
tribes in confederacy. The Manahoacs are said to have been a con- 
federacy of four tribes, and in alliance with the Monacans, in the war 
which they were carrying on against the Powhatans. 

To the northward of these there was another powerful nation, 
which occupied the country from the head of the Chesapeak bay up 
to the Kittatinney mountain, and as far eastward as Connecticut 
river, comprehending that part of New York which lies between the 
highlands and the ocean, all the State of New Jersey, that part of 
Pennsylvania which is watered, below the range of the Kittatinney 
mountains, by the rivers or streams falling into the Delaware, and 
the county of Newcastle in the State of Delaware, as far as Duck 



Two generations now had past away. 

Wise by his rules, and happy by his sway ; 

Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd, 

And now th' example of the third remain'd. 

Pope. 



APPENDIX. 221 

creek. It is to be oltjperved, that the nations of Indians distinguished 
their countries one from another by natural boundaries, such as 
ranges of mountains, or streams of water. But as the heads of 
rivers frequently interlock, or approach near to each other, as those 
who live upon a stream claim the country watered by it, they often 
encroached on each other, and this is a constant source of war be- 
tween the different nations. The nation occupying the tract of country 
last described, called themselves Lenopi. The French writers call 
them Loups ; and among the English they are now commonly called 
Delawares. This nation or confederacy consisted of five tribes, who 
all spoke one language. 1. Chihohocki, who dwelt on the West side 
of the river now called Delaware, a name which it took from Lord 
De la War, who put into it on his passage from Virginia in the year 

, but which by the Indians was called Chihohocki. 2. The Wa- 

nami, who inhabited the country called New Jersey, from the Rariton 
to the sea. 3. The Munsey, who dwelt on the upper streams of the 
Delaware, from the Kittatinney mountains down to the Leheigh or 
western branch of the Delaware. 4. The Wabinga, who are some- 
times called River Indians, sometimes Mohickanders, and who had 
their dwelling between the west branch of Delaware and Hudson's 
river, from the Kittatinney ridge down to the Rariton : and 5. The 
Mahiccon, or Mahattan, who occupied Staten island, York island, 
(which, from its being the principal seat of their residence, was for- 
merly called Mahatton,) Long island, and that part of New York and 
Connecticut which lies between Hudson and Connecticut rivers, from 
the highland, which is a continuation of the Kittatinney ridge, down 
to the Sound. This nation had a close alliance with the Shawanese, 
who lived on the Susquehannah and to the westward of that river, as 
far as the Alleghaney mountains, and carried on a long war with 
another powerful nation or confederacy of Indians, which lived to the 
north of them between the Kittatinney mountains or highlands, and 
the lake Ontario, and who call themselves Mingos, and are called by 
the French writers Iroquois, by the English the Five Nations, and by 
the Indians to the southward, with whom they were at war, Massa- 
womacs. This war was carrying on, in its great fury, when Captain 
Smith first arrived in Virginia. The Mingo warriors had penetrated 
down the Susquehanna to the mouth of it. In one of his excursions 
up the bay, at the mouth of the Susquehanna, in 1608, Captain 
Smith met with six or seven of their canoes full of warriors, who 
were coming to attack their enemies in the rear. In an excursion 



222 APPENDIX. 

which he had made a few weeks before, up the^RappahanoC; and in 
which he had a skirmish with a party of the Manahoacs, and taken a 
brother of one of their chiefs prisoner, he first heard of this nation. 
For when he asked the prisoner, why his nation attacked the English ? 
the prisoner said, because his nation had heard that the English came 
from under the world to take their world from them. Being asked 
how many worlds he knew ? he said, he knew but one, which was 
under the sky that covered him, and which consisted of the Powha- 
tans, the Mknakins, and the Massawomacs. Being questioned con- 
cerning the latter, he said, they dwelt on a great water to the North, 
that they had many boats, and so many men that they waged war 
with all the rest of the world. The Mingo confederacy then consisted 
of five tribes ; three who are called the elder, to wit, the Senecas, who 
live to the West, the Mohawks to the East, and the Onondagas 
between them ; and two who are called the younger tribes, namely, the 
Cayugas and Oneidas. All these tribes speak one language, and were 
then united in a close confederacy, and occupied the tract of country 
from the East end of lake Erie to lake Champlain, and from the 
Kittatinney and Highlands to the lake Ontario and the river Cadara- 
qui, or St. Laurence. They had, for some time before that, carried 
on a war with a nation, who lived beyond the lakes, and were called 
Adirondacs. In this war they were worsted : but having made a 
peace with them through the intercession of the French, who were 
then settling Canada, they turned their arms against the Lenopi, and 
as this war was long and doubtful, they, in the course of it, not onh' 
exerted their whole force, but put in practice every measure which 
prudence or policy could devise to bring it to a successful issue. For 
this purpose they bent their course down the Susquehanna, warring 
with the Indians in their way, and having penetrated as far as the 
mouth of it, they, by the terror or their arms, engaged a nation, now 
known by* the name of Nanticocks, Conoys, and Tuteloes, and who 
lived between Chesapeak and Delaware bays, and bordering on the 
tribe of Chihohocki, to enter into an alliance with them. They also 
formed an alliance with the Monacans, and stimulated them to a war 
with the Lenopi and their confederates. At the same time the Mo- 
hawks carried on a furious war down the Hudson against the Mohic- 
cons and Eiver Indians, and compelled them to purchase a temporary 
and precarious peace, by acknowledging them to be their superiors, 
and paying an annual tribute. The Lenopi being surrounded with 
enemies, and hard pressed, and having lost many of their warriors, 



APPENDIX. 223 

were at last compelled to sue for peace, which was granted them on 
the condition that they should put themselves under the protection of 
the Mingoes, confine themseh-es to raising corn, hunting for the 
subsistence of their families, and no longer have the power of 
making war. This is what the Indians call making them women. 
And in this condition the Lenopis were when William Penn first 
arrived and began the settlement of Pennsylvania in 1682. 

(6.) p. 107. From the figuratiA^e language of the Indians, as well 
as from the practice of those we are still acquainted with, it is evident 
that it was, and still continues to be, a constant custom among the 
Indians to gather up the bones of the dead, and deposit them in a 
particular place. Thus, when they make peace with any nation with 
whom they have been at war, after burying the hatchet, they take up 
the belt of wampum, and say, " We now gather up all the bones of 
those who have been slain, and bury them," &c. See all the treaties 
of peace. Besides, it is customary when any of them die at a distance 
from home, to bury them, and afterwards to come and take up the 
bones, and carry them home. At a treaty which was held at Lan- 
caster with the Six Nations, one of them died, and was buried in the 
woods a little distance from the town. Some tima after a party came 
and took up the body, separated the flesh from the bones by boiling 
and scraping them clean, and carried them to be deposited in the 
sepulchres of their ancestors. The operation was so offensive and 
disagreeable, that nobody could come near them while they were 
performing it. 

(7.) p. 115. The Oswegatchies, Connosedagos, and Cohunnega- 
goes, or, as they are commonly called, Caghnewagos, are of the 
IMiugo or Six-nation Indians, who, by the influence of the French 
missionaries, have been separated from their nation, and induced to 
settle there. 

I do not know of what nation the Augquagahs are ; but suspect 
they are a family of the Senecas. 

The Nanticocks and Conoies were formerly a nation that lived at 
the head of Chesapeak bay, and who, of late years, have been adopted 
into the Mingo or Iroquois confederacy, and make a seventh nation. 
The Monacans or Tuscaroras, who were taken into the confederacy in 
1712, making the sixth. 



224 APPENDIX. 

The Saponies are families of the Wanamies, who removed from 
New Jersey, and, with the Mohiccons, Munsies, and Delawares, 
belong to the Lenopi nation. The Mingos are a war colony from the 
Six Nations ; so are the Cohunnewagos. 

Of the rest of the northern tribes I never have been able to learn 
any thing certain. But all accounts seem to agree in this, that there 
is a very powerful nation, distinguished by a variety of names taken 
from the several towns or families, but commonly called T^was or 
Outawas, who speak one language, and live round and on the waters 
that fall into the western lakes, and extend from the waters of the 
Ohio quite to the waters falling into Hudson's bay. 



APPENDIX. 225 



No. II 



In the Summer of the year 17S3, it was expected that the Assembly of Virginia 
would call a Convention for the establishment of a Constitution. The follow- 
ing Draught of a Fundamental Constitution for the Cojuionwealth of Vir- 
ginia was then prepared, with a design of being proposed in such Convention, 
had it taken place. 

To the Citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and all others 
whom it may concern, the Delegates for the said Commonwealth, in 
Convention assembled, send greeting : 

It is known to you, and to the world, that the government of 
Great Britain, with which the American States were not long since 
connected, assumed over them an authority unwarrantable and oppres- 
sive ; that they endeavored to enforce this authority by arms, and 
that the States of New Hampshire, Massachusets, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Greorgia, con- 
sidering resistance, with all its train of horrors, as a lesser evil than 
abject submission, closed in the appeal to arms. It hath pleased the 
Sovereign Disposer of all human events to give to this appeal an issue 
favorable to the rights of the States; to enable them to reject for 
ever all dependance on a government which had shewn itself so capa- 
ble of abusing the trusts reposed in it; and to obtain from that 
government a solemn and explicit acknowledgment that they are free, 
sovereign, and independent States. During the progress of that war, 
through which we had to labor for the establishment of our rights, 
the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia found it necessary 
to make a temporary organization of government for preventing 
anarchy, and pointing our efforts to the two important objects of war 
against our invaders, and peace and happiness among ourselves. But 
this, like all other their acts of legislation, being subject to change 
by subsequent legislatures, possessing equal powers with themselves, it 
has been thought expedient, that it should receive those amendments 
15 



226 APPENDIX. 

which time and trial have suggested, and be rendered permanent by a 
power superior to that of the ordinary Legislature. The G-eneral 
Assembly therefore of this State recommended it to the good people 
thereof, to choose delegates to meet in general convention, with pow- 
ers to form a constitution of government for them, and to declare 
those fundamentals to which all our laws, present and future, shall be 
subordinate : and, in compliance with this recommendation, they 
have thought proper to make choice of us, and to vest us with 
powers for this purpose. 

We therefore, the delegates, chosen by the said good people of 
this State, for the purpose aforesaid, and now assembled in general 
convention, do, in execution of the authority with which we are in- 
vested, establish the following Constitution and Fundamentals of Gov- 
ernment for the said State of Virginia. 

The said State shall forever hereafter be governed as a Common- 
wealth. 

The powers of government shall be divided into three distinct 
departments, each of them to be confided to a separate body of mag- 
istracy ; to wit, those which are legislative to one, those which arc 
judiciary to another, and those which are executive to another. No 
person, or collection of persons, being of one of these departments, 
shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, 
except in the instances hereinafter expressly permitted. 

I. LEGISLATURE. 

The Legislature shall consist of two branches, the one to be called 
the House of Delegates, the other the Senate, and both together the 
General Assembly. The concurrence of both of these, expressed on 
three several readings, shall be necessary to the passage of a law. 

ELECTION. 

Delegates for the General Assembly shall be chosen on the last 
Monday of November in every year. But if an election cannot be 
concluded on that day, it may be adjourned from day to day till 
it can be concluded. 

DELEGATES, 

The number of delegates which each county may send shall be in 
proportion to the number of its qualified electors; and the whole 
number of delegates for the State shall be so proportioned to the 



APPENDIX. 227 

whole number of qualified electors in it, that they shall never exceed 
300, nor be fewer than 100. Whenever such excess or deficiency 
shall take place, the House of Delegates so deficient or excessive 
shall, notwithstanding this, continue in 'being during its legal term, 
but they shall during that term re-adjust the proportion, so as to brino- 
their number within the limits before mentioned at the ensuing election. 
If any county be reduced in its qualified electors, below the number 
authorized -to send one delegate, let it be annexed to some adjoinin"- 
county, 

SENATE. 

For the election of Senators, let the several counties be allotted by 
the Senate, from time to time, into such and so many districts as 
they shall find best ; and let each county at the time of electing its 
delegates, choose Senatorial electors, qualified as themselves are, and 
four in number for each delegate their county is entitled to send, who 
shall convene, and conduct themselves, in such manner as the Legis- 
lature shall direct, with the senatorial electors from the other counties 
of their district, and then choose, by ballot, one Senator for every six 
delegates which their district is entitled to choose. Let the senatorial 
districts be divided into two classes, and let the members elected for 
one of them be dissolved at the first ensuing general election of 
delegates, the other at the next, and so on alternately forever. 

ELECTORS. 

All free male citizens, of full age, and sane mind, who for one 
year before shall have been resident in the county, or shall through 
the whole of that time have possessed therein real property of the 

value of , or shall for the same time have been enrolled in the 

militia, and no others, shall have a right to vote for delegates for the 
said county, and for senatorial electors for the district. They shall 
give their votes personally, and viva voce. 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

The General Assembly shall meet at the place to which the last 
adjournment was, on the 42d day after the day of the election of 
delegates, and thenceforward at any other time or place on their own 
adjournment, till their office expires, which shall be on the day pre- 
ceding that appointed for the meeting of the next Greneral Assembly. 
But if they shall at any time adjourn for more than one year, it shall 
be as if they had adjourned for one year precisely. Neither house, 



228 , APPENDIX. 

without the concurrence of the other, shall adjourn for more than one 
week, nor to any other place than the one at which they are sitting. 
The Governor shall also have power, with the advice of the Council 
of State, to call them at any other time to the same place, or to a 
different one, if that shall have become, since the last adjournment, 
dangerous from an enemy, or from infection. 

QUORUM. 

A majority of either house shall be a quorum, and shall be requi- 
site for doing business ; but any smaller proportion which from time 
to time shall be thought expedient by the respective houses, shall be 
sufficient to call for, and to punish, their non-attending members, and 
to adjourn themselves for any time not exceeding one week. 

PRIVILEGES. 

The members, during their attendance on the Gleneral Assembly, 
and for so long a time before and after as shall be necessary for tra- 
veling to and from the same, shall be privileged from all personal 
restraint and assault, and shall have no other privilege whatsoever. 
They shall receive during the same time, daily wages in gold or silver, 
equal to the value of two bushels of wheat. This value shall be 
deemed one dollar by the bushel till the year 1790, in which, and in 
every tenth year thereafter, the General Court, at their first sessions in 
the year, shall cause a special jury, of the most respectable merchants 
and farmers, to be summoned, to declare what shall have been the 
averaged value of wheat during the last ten years ; which averaged 
value shall be the measure of wages for the ten subsequent years. 

EXCLUSIONS. 

Of this General Assembly, the Treasurer, Attorney General, Reg- 
ister, Ministers of the Gospel, officers of the regular armies of this 
State, or of the United States, persons receiving salaries or emoluments 
from any power foreign to our confederacy, those who are not resident 
in the county for which they are chosen delegates, or districts for which 
they are chosen senators, those who are not qualified as electors, per- 
sons who shall have committed treason, felony, or such other crimes 
as would subject them to infamous punishment, or who shall have 
been convicted by due course of law of bribery or corruption, in 
endeavoring to procure an election to the said assembly, shall be in- 



APPENDIX. 229 

capable of being members. All others, not herein elsewhere exclu- 
ded, who may elect, shall be capable of being elected thereto. 

Any member of the said assembly accepting any office of profit 
under this State, or the United States, or any of them, shall thereby 
vacate his seat, but shall be capable of being re-elected. 

VACANCIES. 

Vacancies occasioned by such disqualifications, by death, or other- 
wise, shall be supplied by the electors, on a writ from the Speaker of 
the respective house. 

LIMITS OF POWER. 

The Greneral Assembly shall not have power to infringe this Con- 
stitution ; to abridge the civil rights of any person on account 
of his religious belief; to restrain him from professing and sup- 
porting that belief, or to compel him to contributions other 
than those he shall have personally stipulated, for the support 
of that or any other; to ordain death for any crime but treason 
or murder, or military offences; to pardon, or give a power of 
pardoning persons duly convicted of treason or felony, but instead 
thereof they may substitute one or two new trials, and no more ; to 
pass laws for punishing actions done before the existence of such 
laws; to pass any bill of attainder of treason or felony; to prescribe 
torture in any case whatever ; nor to permit the introduction of any- 
more slaves to reside in this State, or the continuance of slavery 
beyond the generation which shall be living on the thirty-first day of 
December, one thousand eight hundred : all persons born after that 
day being hereby declared free. 

The General Assembly shall have power to sever from this State 
all or any part of its territory westward of the Ohio, or of the me- 
ridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, and to cede to Congress 
one hundred square miles of territory in any other part of this State, 
exempted from the jurisdiction and government of this State so 
long as Congress shall hold their sessions therein, or in any ter- 
ritory adjacent thereto, which may be ceded to them by any other 
State. 

They shall have power to appoint the Speakers of their respective 
houses, Treasurer, Auditors, Attorney General, Register, all gen- 
eral officers of the military, their own clerks and sergeants, and no 



230 APPENDIX. 

other officers, except where, in other parts of this Constitution, such 
appointment is expressly given them. 

II. EXECUTIVE. — GOVERNOR. 

The executive powers shall be exercised by a Governor, who shall 
be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of Assembly, and when 
chosen shall remain in office five years, and be ineligible a second 
time. During his term he shall hold no other office or emolument 
under this State, or any other State or power whatsoever. By executive 
powers, we mean no reference to those powers exercised under our 
former government by the Crown as of its prerogative, nor that these 
shall be the standard of what may or may not be deemed the rightful 
powers of the Governor. We give him those powers only, which are 
necessary to execute the laws, (and administer the government) and 
which are not in their nature either legislative or judiciary. The 
application of this idea must be left to reason. We do however 
expressly deny him the prerogative powers of erecting courts, offices, 
boroughs, corporations, fairs, markets, ports, beacons, light houses, 
and sea-marks; of laying embargoes, of establishing precedence, of 
retaining within the State or recalling to it any citizen thereof, and 
of making denizens, except so far as he may be authorized from time 
to time by the Legislature to exercise any of those powers. The 
powers of declaring war and concluding peace, of contracting alli- 
ances, of issuing letters of marque and reprisal, of raising or intro- 
ducing armed forces, of building armed vessels, forts, or strongholds, 
of coining money or regulating its value, of regulating weights and 
measures, we leave to be exercised under the authority of the Confed- 
eration : but in all cases respecting them which are out of the said 
Confederation, they shall be exercised by the Grovernor, under the 
regulation of such laws as the Legislature may think it expedient to 
pass. 

The whole military of the State, whether regular, or of militia, 
shall be subject to his directions; but he shall leave the execution of 
those directions to the general officers appointed by the Legislature. 

His salary shall be fixed by the Legislature at the session of As- 
sembly in which he shall be appointed, and before such appointment 
be made ; or if it be not then fixed, it shall be the same which his next 
predecessor in office was entitled to. In either case he may demand 
it quarterly out of any money which shall be in the public treasury ; 
and it shall not be in the power of the Legislature to give him less or 



APPENDIX. ' 231 

more, eitlier during his continuance in office, or after he shall have gone 
out of it. The lands, houses, and other things appropriated to the use of 
the Governor, shall remain to his use during his continuance in office. 

COUNCIL OF STATE. 

A Council of State shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses 
of Assembly, who shall hold their offices seven years, and be ineligi- 
ble a second time, and who, while they shall be of the said Council, 
shall hold no other office or emolument, under this State, or any 
other State or power whatsoever. Their duty shall be to attend and 
advise the G-overnor when called on by him, and their advice in any 
case shall be a sanction to him. They shall also have power, and it 
shall be their duty, to meet at their own will, and to give their advice, 
though not required by the Governor, in cases where they shall think 
the public good calls for it. Their advice and proceedings shall be 
entered in books to be kept for that purpose, and shall be signed as 
approved or disapproved by the members present. These books shall 
be laid before either house of Assembly when called for by them. 
The said Council shall consist of eight members for the present : but 
their numbers may be increased or reduced by the Legislature, when- 
ever they shall think it necessary : provided such reduction be made only 
as the appointments become vacant by death, resignation, disqualifi- 
cation, or regular deprivation. A majority of their actual number, 
and not fewer, shall be a quorum. They shall be allowed for the 

present each by the year, payable quarterly out of any 

money which shall be in the public treasury. Their salary however 
may be increased or abated from time to time, at the discretion of the 
Legislature ; provided such increase or abatement shall not, by any 
ways or means, be made to aflfect either then, or at any future time, 
any one of those then actually in office. At the end of each quarter 
their salary shall be divided into equal portions by the number of 
days on which, during that quarter, a Council has been held, or 
required by the Governor, or by their own adjournment, and one of 
those portions shall be withheld from each member for every of the 
said days which, without cause allowed good by the board, he failed to 
attend, or departed before adjournment without their leave. If no board 
should have been held during that quarter, there shall be no deduction. 

PRESIDENT. 

They shall annually choose a President, who shall preside in Coun- 
cil in the absence of the Governor, and who, in case of his office 



232 APPENDIX. 

becoming vacant by death or otherwise, shall have authority to exer- 
cise all his functions, till a new appointment be made, as he shall 
also in any interval during which the G-overnor shall declare himself 
unable to attend to the duties of his office. 

III. JUDICIARY. 

The Judiciary powers shall be exercised by county courts and such 
other inferior courts as the Legislature shall think proper to continue 
or to erect, by three Superior Courts, to wit, a Court of Admiralty, 
a General Court of Common Law, and a High Court of Chancery ; 
and by one Supreme Court to be called the Court of Appeals. 

The judges of the High Court of Chancery, General Court, and 
Court of Admiralty, shall be four in number each, to be appointed 
by joint ballot of both houses of Assembly, and to hold their offices 
during good behavior. While they continue judges, they shall 
hold no other office or emolument under this State, or any other 
State or power whatsoever, except that they may be delegated to Con- 
gress, receiving no additional allowance. 

These judges, assembled together, shall constitute the Court of 
Appeals, whose business shall be to receive and determine appeals 
from the three Superior Courts, but to receive no original causes, 
except in the cases expressly permitted herein. 

A majority of the members of either of these courts, and not 
fewer, shall be a quorum. But in the Court of Appeals nine mem- 
bers shall be necessary to do business. Any smaller numbers, how- 
ever, may be authorized by the Legislature to adjourn their respec- 
tive courts. 

They shall be allowed for the present each by 

the year, payable quart^jrly out of any money which shall be in the 
public treasury. Their salaries, however, may be increased or 
abated, from time to time, at the discretion of the Legislature, pro- 
vided such increase or abatement shall not, by any ways or means, 
be made to affect, either then, or at any future time, any one of those 
then actually in office. At the end of each quarter their salary 
shall be divided into equal portions by the number of days on which, 
during that quarter, their respective courts sat, or should have sat, 
and one of these portions shall be withheld from each member for 
every of the said days, which, without cause allowed good by his 
court, he failed to attend, or departed before adjournment without 



APPENDIX. 233 

their leave. If no court should have been held during the quarter, 
there shall be no deduction. 

There shall, moreover, be a Court of Impeacliments, to consist of 
three members of the Council of State, one of each of the Superior 
Courts of Chancery, Common Law and Admiralty, two members' of 
the House of Delegates, and one of the Senate, to be chosen by the 
body respectively of which they are. Before this court any member 
of the threfe branches of government ; that is to say, the Governor, 
any member of the Council, of the two houses of Legislature, or of 
the Superior Courts, may be impeached by the Grovernor, the Council, 
or either of the said houses or courts, and by no other, for such mis- 
behavior in office as would be sufficient to remove him therefrom ; 
and the only sentence they shall have authority to pass shall be that 
of deprivation and future incapacity of office. Seven members shall 
be requisite to make a court, and two-thirds of those present must 
concur in the sentence. The offences cognizable by this court shall 
be cognizable by no other, and they shall be triers of the fact as well 
as judges of the law. 

The justices or judges of the Inferior Courts already erected, or 
hereafter to be erected, shall be appointed by the GrOvernor, on advice 
of the Council of State, and shall hold their offices during good be- 
havior, or the existence of their court. For breach of the good 
behavior, they shall be tried according to the laws of the land, 
before the Court of Appeals, who shall be judges of the fact as well 
as of the law. The only sentence they shall have authority to pass, 
shall be that of deprivation and future incapacity of office, and two- 
thirds of the members present must concur in this sentence. 

All courts shall appoint their own clerks, who shall hold their 
offices during good behavior, or the existence of their court : they 
shall also appoint all other their attending officers to continue during 
their pleasure. Clerks appointed by the Supreme or the Superior 
Courts shall be removable by their respective courts. Those to be 
appointed by other courts shall have been previously examined, and 
certified to be duly qualified, by some two members of the Greneral 
Court, and shall be removable for breach of the good behavior by 
the Court of Appeals only, who shall be judges of the fact as well as 
of the law. Two-thirds of the members present must concur in the 
sentence. 

The justices or judges of the Inferior Courts may be members of 
the Legislature. 



234 APPENDIX. 

The judgment of no Inferior Court shall be final, in any civil 
case, of greater value than 50 bushels of wheat, as last rated in 
the General Court for settling the allowance to the members of the 
General Assembly, nor in any case of treason, felony, or other crime 
which would subject the party to infamous punishment. 

In all causes depending before any court, other than those of im- 
peachments, of appeals, and military courts, facts put in issue shall 
be tried by jury, and in all courts whatever witnesses shall give their 
testimony viva voce in open court, wherever their attendance can be 
procured ; and all parties shall be allowed counsel and compulsory 
process for their witnesses. 

Fines, amercements, and terms of imprisonment left indefinite by 
the law, other than for contempts, shall be fixed by the jui-y, triers 
of the ofience. 

IV. COUNCIL OF REVISION. 

The Governor, two Councillors of State, and a Judge from each of 
the Superior Courts of Chancery, Common Law and Admiralty, shall 
be a council to revise all bills which shall have passed both houses of 
Assembly, in which Council the Governor, when present, shall pre- 
side. Every bill, before it becomes a law, shall be presented to 
this council, who shall have a right to advise its rejection, returning 
the bill, with their advice and reasons in writing, to the house' in 
which it originated, who shall proceed to reconsider the said bill. 
But if after such reconsideration two-thirds of the house shall be of 
opinion the bill should pass finally, they shall pass and send it, with 
the advice and written reasons of the said Council of Revision to the 
other house, wherein, if two-thirds also shall be of opinion it should 
pass finally, it shall thereupon become law, otherwise it shall not. 

If any bill presented to the said council be not within one week 
(exclusive of the day of presenting it) returned by them, with their 
advice of rejection and reasons, to the house wherein it originated, or 
to the clerk of the said house, in case of its adjournment over the 
expiration of the week, it shall be law from the expiration of the 
week, and shall then be dcmandable by the clerk of the House of 
Delegates, to be filed of record in his office. 

The bills which they approve shall become law from the time of 
such approbation, and shall then be returned to, or demandable by, 
the clerk of the House of Delegates, to be filed of record in his office. 

A bill rejected on advice of the CDuncil of Revision may again be 
proposed, during the same session of Assembly, with such alterations 
as will render it conformable to their advice. 



APPENDIX. 235 

The members of tlie said Council of Revision sliall be appointed 
from time to time by tlie board or court of whicli they respectively 
are. Two of the executive and two of the judiciary members shall 
be requisite to do business ; and to prevent the evils of non-attend- 
ance, the board and courts may, at any time, name all, or so many as 
they will, of their numbers, in the particular order in which they 
would chose the duty of attendance to devolve from preceding to sub- 
sequent members, the preceding failing to attend. They shall have 
additionally for their services in this council the same allowance as 
members of Assembly have. 

CONFEDERACY. 

The Confederation is made a part of this Constitution, subject to 
such future alterations, as shall be agreed to by the Legislature of 
this State, and by all the other confederating States. 

DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. 

The delegates to Congress shall be five in number ; any three of 
whom, and no fewer, may be a representation. They shall be ap- 
pointed by joint ballot of both houses of Assembly for any term not 
exceeding one year, subject to be recalled, within the term, by joint 
vote of both the said houses. They may at the same time be mem- 
bers of the legislative or judiciary departments, but not of the 
executive. 

HABEAS CORPUS. 

The benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall be extended, by 
the Legislature, to every person within this State, and without fee, 
and shall be so facilitated that no person may be detained in prison 
more than ten days after he shall have demanded and been refused 
such writ by the judge appointed by law, or if none be appointed, 
then by any judge of a Superior Court, nor more than ten days after 
such writ shall have been served on the person detaining him, and no 
order given, on due examination, for his remandment or discharge. 

MILITARY. 

The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. 

PRINTING. 

Printing presses shall be subject to no other restraint than liable- 
ness to legal prosecution for false facts printed and published. 



236 APPENDIX. 



CONVENTION. 

Any two of tlie three branches of government concurring in opin- 
ion, each by the voices of two-thirds of their whole existing number, 
that a convention is necessary for altering this Constitution, or cor- 
recting breaches of it, they shall be authorized to issue writs to 
every county for the election of so many delegates as they are autho- 
rized to send to the General Assembly, which election shall be held, 
and writs returned, as the laws shall have provided in the case of 
elections of delegates to Assembly, mutatis mutandis, and the said 
delegates shall meet at the usual place of holding Assemblies, three 
months after the date of such writs, and shall be acknowledged to 
have equal powers with this present convention. The said writs 
shall be signed by all the members approving the same. 

To introduce this government, the following special and temporary 
provision is made : 

This convention being authorized only to amend those laws which 
constituted the form of government, no general dissolution of the 
whole system of laws can be supposed to have taken place : but all 
laws in force at the meeting of this convention, and not inconsistent 
with this Constitution, remain in full force, subject to alterations by 
the ordinary Legislature. 

The present General Assembly shall continue till the 42d day 
after the last Monday of November in this present year. On the said 
last Monday of November in this present year, the several counties 
shall, by their electors, qualified as provided by this Constitution, 
elect delegates, which for the present shall be, in number, one for 

every militia of the said county, according to the latest 

returns in possession of the Governor, and shall also choose sena- 
torial electors in proportion thereto, which senatorial electors shall 
meet on the 14th day after the day of their election, at the Court House 
of that county of their present district which would stand first in an 
alphabetical arrangement of their counties, and shall choose Senators 
in the proportion fixed by this constitution. The elections and re- 
turns shall be conducted, in all circumstances not hereby particularly 
prescribed, by the same persons and under the same forms, as pre- 
scribed by the present laws in elections of senators and delegates 
of Assembly. The said senators and delegates shall constitute the 
first General Assembly of the new government, and shall specially 



APPENDIX. 237 

apply themselves to the procuring an exact return from every county 
of the number of its qualified electors, and to the settlement of the 
number of delegates to be elected for the ensuing General Assembly. 

The present Governor shall continue in office to the end of the 
term for which he was elected. 

All other officers of every kind shall continue in office as they 
would have done had their appointment been under this Constitution, 
and new ones, where new are hereby called for, shall be appointed by 
the authority to which such appointment is referred. One of the 
present judges of the General Court, he consenting thereto, shall by 
joint ballot of both houses of iVssembly, at their first meeting, be 
transferred to the High Court of Chancery. 



238 APPENDIX. 



No. Ill 



An ACT for establishing RELiciors Freedom, passed in the Assembly of Virginia 
in the beginning of the year 17S6. 

Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that 
all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or 
by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and 
meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of 
our religion, who, being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not 
to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power 
to do ; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil 
as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and unin- 
spired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting 
up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and 
infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath 
established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of 
the world, and through all time : that to compel a man to furnish 
contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he dis- 
believes, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to sup- 
port this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving 
him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the par- 
ticular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose 
powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing 
from the ministry those temporal rewards, which, proceeding from an 
approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to 
earnest and unremitting labors for the instruction of mankind ; that 
our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, more 
than on our opinions in physics or geometry ; that therefore the pro- 
scribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon 
him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, 
unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is de- 
priving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, 
in common with his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right ; that it 



APPENDIX. 239 

tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant 
to encourage, by bribing, with a naonopoly of worldly honors and 
emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; 
that though, indeed, these are criminal who do not withstand such 
temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their 
way ; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the 
field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of prin- 
ciples, on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, 
which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course 
judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment, 
and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall 
square with or differ from his own ; that it is time enough for the 
rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when 
principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order j 
and finally, that Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that 
she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to Error, and has nothing 
to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of 
her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be 
dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them. 

Be it therefore enacted hi/ the General Assemhli/, That no man 
shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place 
or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, 
or bvirthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on ac- 
count of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be 
free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in mat- 
ters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, 
or affect their civil capacities. 

And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the peo- 
ple for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to 
restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers 
equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable, 
would be of no effect in law, yet we are free to declare, and do de- 
clare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of 
mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the 
present, or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement 
of natural ris;ht. 



240 APPENDIX. 



No. lY 



RELATIVE TO THE MURDER OF LOGAN'S FAMILY, 



A LETTER TO GOVERNOR HENRY, OF MARYLAND. 

Philadelphia, Dec. ^\st, 1797. 

Dear Sir, — 

Mr. Tazewell has communicated to me the enquiries you have 
been so kind as to make relative to a passage in the Notes on Vir- 
ginia, which has lately excited some newspaper publications. I feel, 
with great sensibility, the interest you take in this business, and with 
pleasure, go into explanations with one whose objects I know to be 
truth and justice alone. Had Mr. Martin thought proper to sug- 
gest to me that doubts might be entertained of the transaction re- 
specting Logan, as stated in the Notes on Virginia, and to enquire on 
what grounds the statement was founded, I should have felt myself 
obliged by the enquiry to have informed him candidly of the grounds, 
and cordially have co-operated in every means of investigating the 
fact, and correcting whatsoever in it should be found to have been 
erroneous. But he chose to step at once into the newspapers, and in 
his publications there, and the letters he wrote to me, adopted a 
style which forbade the respect of an answer. Sensible, however, 
that no act of his could absolve me from the justice due to others, as 
soon as I found that the story of Logan could be doubted, I deter- 
mined to enquire into it as accurately as the testimony remaining, 
after a lapse of twenty odd years, would permit ; and that the result 
should be made known, either in the first new edition which should 
be printed of the Notes on Virginia, or by publishing an Appendix. 
I thought that so far as that work had contributed to impeach the 
memory of Cresap, by handing on an erroneous charge, it was proper 



APPENDIX. 241 

it should be made the vehicle of retribution. Not that I was at all 
the author of the injury. I had only concurred with thousands and 
thousands of others in believing a transaction on authority which 
merited respect. For the story of Logan is only repeated in the 
Notes on Virginia, precisely as it had been current for more than a 
dozen years before they were published. When Lord Dunmore re- 
turned from the expedition against the Indians, in 1774, he and his 
officers bro.ught the speech of Logan, and related the circumstances 
connected with it. These were so affecting, and the speech itself so 
fine a morsel of eloquence, that it became the theme of every conver- 
sation, in Williamsburg particularly, and generally, indeed, whereso- 
ever any of the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Wil- 
liamsburg ; I believe at Lord Dunmore' s ; and I find in my pocket- 
book of that year (1774) an entry of the narrative, as taken from 
the mouth of some person, whose name, however, is not noted nor 
recollected, precisely in the words stated in the Notes on Virginia. 
The speech was published in the Virginia Gazette of that time (I 
have it myself in the volume of Gazettes of that year) and though 
in a style by no means elegant, yet it was so admired, that it flew 
through all the public papers of the continent, and through the 
magazines and other periodical publications of Great Britain; and 
those who were boys at that day will now attest, that the speech of 
Logan used to be given them as a school exercise for repetition. It 
was not till about thirteen or fourteen years after the newspaper 
publications, that the Notes on Virginia were published in America. 
Combatting in these the contumelious theory of certain European 
writers, whose celebrity gave currency and weight to their opinions, 
that our country, from the combined effects of soil and climate, 
degenerated animal nature, in the general, and particularly the 
moral faculties of man, I considered , the speech of Logan as an 
apt proof of the contrary, and used it as such ; and I copied, ver- 
batim, the narrative I had taken down in 1774, and the speech as 
it had been given us in a better translation by Lord Dunmore. I 
knew nothing of the Cresaps, and could not possibly have a motive 
to do them an injury with design. I repeated what thousands had 
done before, on as good authority as we have for most of the facts 
we learn through life, and such as, to this moment, I have seen no 
reason to doubt. That any body questioned it, was never suspected 
by me, till I saw the letter of Mr. Martin in the Baltimore paper. 

I endeavored then to recollect who among my cotemporaries, of the 
16 



242 APPENDIX. 

same circle of society, and consequently of the same recollections^ 
might still be alive. Three and twenty years of death and disper- 
sion had left very few. I remembered, however, that Gen. Gibson 
was still living, and knew that he had been the translator of the 
speech. I wrote to him immediately. He, in answer, declares to 
me, that he was the very person sent by Lord Dunmore to the In- 
dian town; that, after he had delivered his message there, Logan 
took him out to a neighboring wood; sat down with him, and re- 
hearsing, with tears, the catastrophe of his family, gave him that 
speech for Lord Dunmore ; that he carried it to Lord Dunmore ; 
translated it for him ; has turned to it in the Encyclopedia, as taken 
from the Notes on Virginia, and finds that it was his translation 
I had used, with only two or three verbal variations of no import- 
ance. These, I suppose, had arisen in the course of successive 
copies. I cite Gen. Gibson's letter by memory, not having it with 
me; but I am sure I cite it substantially right. It establishes 
unquestionably, that the speech of Logan is genuine ; and that being 
established, it is Logan himself who is author of all the im- 
portant facts. " Col. Cresap," says he, " in cold blood and unpro- 
voked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my 
women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the 
veins of any living creature." The person and the fact, in all its 
material circumstances, are here given by Logan himself. General 
Gibson, indeed, says, that the title was mistaken ; that Cresap was 
a captain, and not a colonel. This was Logan's mistake. He also 
observes, that it was on the Ohio, and not on the Kanhaway itself, 
that his family was killed. This is an error which has crept into 
the traditionary account ; but surely of little moment in the moral 
view of the subject. The material question is : was Logan's family 
murdered, and by whom ? That it was murdered has not, I believe, 
been denied; that it was by one of the Cresaps, Logan affirms. 
This is a question which concerns the memories of Logan and 
Cresap ; to the issue of which I am as indifierent as if I had never 
heard the name of either. I have begun and shall continue to 
enquire into the evidence additional to Logan's, on which the fact 
was founded. Little, indeed, pan now be heard of, and that little 
dispersed and distant. If it shall appear on enquiry, that Logan 
has been wrong in charging Cresap with the murder of his family, 
I will do justice to the memory of Cresap, as far as I have contribu- 
ted to the injury, by believing and repeating what others had 



APPENDIX. 243 

believed and repeated before me. If, on the other hand, I find that 
Logan was right, in his charge, I will vindicate, as far as my suffrage 
may go, the truth of a Chief, whose talents and misfortunes have 
attached to him the respect and commiseration of the world. 

I have gone, my dear Sir, into this lengthy detail to satisfy a 
mind, in the candor and rectitude of which I have the highest 
confidence. So far as you may incline to use the communication 
for rectifying the judgments of those who are willing to see things 
truly as they are, you are free to use it. But I pray that no confi- 
dence which you may repose in any one, may induce you to let 
it go out of your hands, so as to get into a newspaper. Against 
a contest in that field I am entirely decided. I feel extraordinary 
gratification, indeed, in addressing this letter to you, with whom 
shades of difference in political sentiment have not prevented the 
interchange of good opinion, nor cut off the friendly offices of society 
and good correspondence. This political tolerance is the more valued 
by me, who considers social harmony as the first of human felicities, 
and the happiest moments, those which are given to the effusions of 
the heart. Accept them sincerely, I pray you, from one who has the 
honor to be, with sentiments of high respect and attachment, 

Dear Sir, 

Your most obedient 

And most humble servant, 

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



244 APPENDIX, 



The Notes on Virginia were written in Virginia, in tlie years 1781 
and 1782, in answer to certain queries proposed to me by Mous. 
De Marbois, then Secretary of the French Legation in the United 
States; and a manuscript copy was delivered to him. A few copies, 
with some additions, were afterwards, in 1784, printed in Paris, and 
given to particular friends. In speaking of the animals of America, the 
theory of M, de Buffon, the Abbe Raynal, and others presented itself to 
consideration. They have supposed there is something in the soil, 
climate, and other circumstances of America, which occasions animal 
nature to degenerate, not excepting even the man, native or adoptive, 
physical or moral. This theory, so unfounded and degrading to one 
third of the globe, was called to the bar of fact and reason. Among 
other proofs adduced in contradiction of this hypothesis, the speech 
of Logan, an Indian chief, delivered to Lord Dunmore in 1774, was 
produced as a specimen of the talents of the aboriginals of this 
country, and particularly of their eloquence ; and it was believed 
that Europe had never produced any thing superior to this morsel of 
eloquence- In order to make it intelligible to the reader, the trans- 
action, on which it is founded, was stated, as it had been generally 
related in America at the time, and as I had heard it myself, in the 
circle of Lord Dunmore, and the officers who accompanied him : and 
the speech itself was given as it had, ten years before the printing of 
that book, circulated in the newspapers through all the then colonies, 
through the magazines of Great Britain, and the periodical publi- 
cations of Europe. For three and twenty years it passed uncontra- 
dicted ; nor was it ever suspected that it even admitted contradiction. 
In 1797, however, for the first time, not only the whole transaction 
respecting Logan was affirmed in the public papers to be false, but the 
speech itself suggested to be a forgery, and even a forgery of mine, 
to aid me in proving that the man of America was equal in body and 
in mind, to the man in Europe. But wherefore the forgery; whether 
Xogan's or mine, it would still have been American. I should indeed 
. consult my own fame if the suggestion, that this speech is mine, were 
suffered to be believed. He would have a just right to be proud who 
. could with truth claim that composition. But it is none of mine ; 
and I yield it to whom it is due. 

On seeing then, that this transaction was brought into question, I 
thought it my duty to make particular enquiry into its foundation. 



APPENDIX, 245 

It was the more my duty, as it was alleged that, by ascribing to an 
individual therein named, a participation in the murder of Logan's 
family, I had done an injury to his character, which it had not 
deserved. I had no knowledge personally of that individual. I had 
no reason to aim an injury at him. I only repeated what I had 
heard from others, and what thousands had heard and believed as 
well as myself; and which no one indeed, till then, had been known 
to questi6n. Twenty-three years had now elapsed, since the transac- 
tion took place. Many of those acquainted with it were dead, and 
the living dispersed to very distant parts of the earth. Few of them 
were even known to me. To those however of whom I knew, I made 
application by letter ; and some others, moved by a regard for truth 
and justice, were kind enough to come forward, of themselves, with 
their testimony. These fragments of evidence, the small remains of 
a mighty mass which time has consumed, are here presented to the 
public, in the form of letters, certificates, or affidavits, as they came 
to me. I have rejected none of these forms, nor required other 
solemnities from those whose motives and characters were pledges of 
their truth. Historical transactions are deemed to be well vouched 
by the simple declarations of those who have borne a part in 
them ; and especially of persons having no interest to falsify or dis- 
figure them. The world will now see whether they, or I, have 
injured Cresap, by believing Logan's charge against him : and they 
will decide between Logan and Cresap, whether Cresap was innocent, 
and Logan a calumniator ? 

In order that the reader may have a clear conception of the trans- 
actions, to which the different parts of the following declarations 
refer, he must take notice that they establish four different murders. 
1. Of two Indians, a little above Wheeling. 2. Of others at Grave 
Creek, among whom were some of Logan's relations. 3. The massa- 
cre at Baker's Bottom, on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow 
Creek, where were other relations of Logan. 4. Of those killed at 
the same place, coming in canoes to the relief of their friends. I 
place the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, against certain paragraphs of the evi- 
dence, to indicate the particular murder to which the paragraph 
relates, and present also a small sketch or map of the principal scenes 
of these butcheries, for their more ready comprehension. 



246 APPENDIX. 



Extract of a Letter from the Honorable Judge Innes, of Frankfort 
in Kentuchy, to Thomas Jefferson, dated Kentucky, near Frank- 
fort, March 2d, 1799. 

I recollect to tave seen Logan's speecli in 1775, in one of the 
public prints. That Logan conceived Cresap to be the author of the 
murder at Yellow Creek, it is in my power to give, perhaps, a more 
particular information, than any other person you can apply to. 

In 1774, I lived in Fincastle county, now divided into Washing- 
ton, Montgomery, and part of Wythe. Being intimate in Colonel 
Preston's family, I happened in July to be at his house, when an 
express was sent to him as the County Lieutenant, requesting a 
guard of the militia to be ordered out for the protection of the inhabi- 
tants residing low down on the north fork of Holston River. The 
express brought with him a war club, and a note which was left 
tied to it at the house of one Robertson, whose family were cut oflf by 
the Indians, and gave rise for the application to Colonel Preston, of 
which the following is a copy, then taken by me in my memorandum 
book. 

"Captain Cresap, 

" What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for ? The white 
" people killed my kin, at Conestoga, a great while ago; and I thought 
" nothing of that. But you killed my kin again, on Yellow Creek, 
"and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too; 
"and I have been three times to war since; but the Indians are not 
" angry : only myself. 

" Captain John Logan." 
July 21st, 1774. 

With great respect, I am. Dear Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

HARRY INNES. 



Alleghany County, ss. ") 
State of Pennsylvania, j 

Before me the subscriber, a justice of the peace in and for said 
county, personally appeared John Gibson, Esquire, an associate Judge 
of same county, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that he 



APPENDIX. 247 

traded with the Shawnese and other tribes of Indians then settled on 
the Siota in the year 1773, and in the beginning of the year 1774, 
and that in the month of April of the same year, he left the same 
Indian town's, and came to this place, in order to procure some goods 
and provisions, that he remained here only a few days, and then set 
out in company with a certain Alexander Blaine and M. Elliott by 
water to return to the towns on Siota, and that one evening as they 
were drifting in their canoes near the Long Reach on the Ohio, they 
were hailed by a number of white men on the South West shore, 
who requested them to put ashore, as they had disagreeable news to 
inform them of; that we then landed on shore, and found amongst 
the -party a Major Angus M' Donald from West Chester, a Doctor 
Woods from same place, and a party as they said of 150 men. We 
then asked the news. They informed us that some of the party who had 
been taking up, and improving lands near the Big Kanhaway river, 
had seen another party of white men, who informed them that they 
and some others had fell in with a party of Shawnese, who had been 
hunting on the South West side of the Ohio, that they had killed 
the whole of the Indian party, and that the others had gone across 
the country to Cheat River with the horses and plunder, the conse- 
quence of which they apprehended would be an Indian war, and that 
they were flying away. On making enquiry of them when this mur- 
der should have happened, we found that it must have been some 
considerable time before we left the Indian towns, and that there was 
not the smallest foundation for the report, as there was not a single 
man of the Shawnese, but what returned from hunting long before 
this should have happened. 

We then informed them that if they would agree to remain at the 
place we then were, one of us would go to Hock Hocking river with 
some of their party, where we should find some of our people making 
canoes, and that if we did not find them there, we might conclude 
that every thing was not right. Doctor Wood and another person 
then proposed going* with me ; the rest of the party seemed to agree, 
but said they would send and consult Captain Cresap, who was about 
two miles from that place. They sent off for him, and during the 
greatest part of the night they behaved in the most disorderly man- 
ner, threatening to kill us, and saying the damned traders were worse 
than the Indians and ought to be killed. In the morning Captain 
Michael Cresap came to the camp. I then gave him the information 
as above related. They then met in Council, and after an hour or 



248 APPENDIX. 

more Captain Cresap returned to me, and informed that he could not 
prevail on them to adopt the proposal I had made to them, that as he 
had a great regard for Captain E.. Callender, a brother-in-law of mine 
with whom I was connected in trade, he advised me by no means to 
think of proceeding any further, as he was convinced the present 
party would fall on and kill every Indian they met on the river, that 
for his part he should not continue with them, but go right across 
the country to Red Stone to avoid the consequences. That we then 
proceeded to Hocking and went up the same to the canoe place where 
we found our people at work, and after some days we proceeded to 
the towns on Siota by land. On our an*ival there, we heard of the 
different murders committed by the party on their way up the Ohio. 
This deponent further saith that in the year 1774, he accompa- 
nied Lord Dunmore on the exj>edition against the Shawnese and other 
Indians on the Siota, that on their arrival within fifteen miles of the 
towns, they were met by a flag, and a white man by the name of 
Elliott, who informed Lord Dunmore that the Chiefs of the Shaw- 
nese had sent to request his Lordship to halt his army and send in 
some person, who understood their language; that this deponent, at 
the request of Lord Dunmore and the whole of the officers with him, 
went in ; that on his arrival at the towns, Logan, the Indian, came to 
where this deponent was sitting with the Corn-Stalk, and the other 
chiefs of the Shawnese, and asked him to walk out with him ; that 
they went into a copse of wood, where they sat down, when Logan, 
after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech, nearly 
as related by Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia ; 
that he the deponent told him then that it was not Col. Cresap who had 
murdered his relations, and that although his son Captain Michael 
Cresap was with the party who killed a Shawnese chief and other 
Indians, yet he was not present when his relations were killed at 
Baker's near the mouth of Yellow Creek on the Ohio; that this 
deponent on his return to camp delivered the speech to Lord Dan- 
more; and that the murders perpetrated as above' were considered as 
ultimately the cause of the war of 1774, commonly called Cresap's 
war. 



JOHN GIBSON. 



Sworn and subscribed the 4:fh April, ] 
1800, at Pittsburg, before me, j 

Jer. Barker. 



APPENDIX. 249 

Extract of a letter from Colonel Ebenezer Zane, to the Honorable 
John Brown, one of the Senators in Congress from Kentucky ; 
dated Wheeling, Feb. ^th, 1800. 

I was myself, with many others, in the practice of making im- 
provements on lands upon the Ohio, for the purpose of acquiring 
rights to the same. Being on the Ohio, at the mouth of Sandy Creek, 
in company with many others, news circulated that the Indians had 
robbed some of the land jobbers. This news induced the people 
generally to ascend the Ohio. I was among the number. [1] On our 
arrival at the Wheeling, being informed that there were two Indians 
with some traders near and above Wheeling, a proposition was made 
by the then Captain Michael Cresap to waylay and kill the Indians 
upon the river. This measure I opposed with much violence, alleg- 
ing that the killing of those Indians might involve the country in a 
war. But the opposite party prevailed, and proceeded up the Ohio 
with Captain Cresap at their head. 

In a short time the party returned, and also the traders, in a 
canoe ; but there were no Indians in the company. I enquired what 
had become of the Indians, and was informed by the traders and 
Cresap's party that they had fallen overboard. I examined the canoe 
and saw much fresh blood and some bullet holes in the canoe. This 
fully convinced me that the party had killed the two Indians, and 
thrown them into the river. 

[2] On the afternoon of the day this action happened, a report pre- 
vailed that there was a camp, or party of Indians on the Ohio below 
and near the Wheeling. In consequence of this information. Captain 
Cresap with his party, joined by a number of recruits, proceeded 
immediately down the Ohio for the purpose, as was then generally 
understood, of destroying the Indians above mentioned. On the 
succeeding day, Captain Cresap and his party returned to Wheeling, 
and it was generally reported by the party that they had killed a 
number of Indians. Of the truth of this report I had no doubt, as 
one of Cresap's party was badly wounded, and the party had a fresh 
scalp, and a quantity of property, which they called Indian plunder. 
At the time of the last mentioned transaction, it was generally re- 
ported that the party of Indians down the Ohio were Logan and his 
family ; but I have reason to believe that this report was unfounded. 

[3] Within a few days after the transaction above mentioned, a party 
of Indians were killed at Yellow Creek. But I must do the memory 



250 APPENDIX. 

of Captain Cresap the justice to say that I do not believe that he was 
present at the killing of the Indians at Yellow Creek. But there 
is not the least doubt in my mind, that the massacre at Yellow Creek 
was brought on by the two transactions fii'st stated. 

All the transactions which I have related happened in the latter 
end of April, 1774 : and there can scarcely be a doubt that they 
were the cause of the war which immediately followed, commonly 
called Dunmore's War. 

I am with much esteem. 
Yours, &c. 

EBENEZER ZANE. 



The certificate of WiLLiAM Huston, of Washington county, in the 
State of Pennsylvania, communicated hy David Reddick, Esq^. 
Prothonotary of Washington County, Pennsylvania) loho in the 
letter inclosing it says " 3Ir. William Huston is a man of es- 
tablished reputation in point of integrity." 

I, William Huston, of Washington county, in the State of Penn- 
sylvania, do hereby certify to whom it may concern, that in the year 
1774, I resided at Catfish's camp, on the main path from Wheeling 
to Redstone : that Michael Cresap, who resided on or near the Pa- 
towmac river, on his way up from the river Ohio, at the head of 
a party of armed men, lay some time at my cabin. 

[2] I had previously heard the report of Mr. Cresap having killed 
some Indians, said to be the relations of " Logan " an Indian Chief. 
In a variety of conversations with several of Cresap' s party, they 
boasted of the deed ; and that in the presence of their chief. They 
acknowledged they had fired first on the Indians. They had with 
them one man on a litter, who was in the skirmish. 

I do further certify that, from what I learned from the party them- 
selves, I then formed the opinion, and have not had any reason to 
[3] change the opinion since, that the killing, on the part of the whites, 
was what I deem the grossest murder. I further certify that some of 
the party, who afterwards killed some women and other Indians at 
Baker's Bottom, also lay at my cabin, on their march to the interior 
part of the county ; they had with them a little girl, whose life had 
been spared by the interference of some more humane than the rest. 
If necessary I will make affidavit to the above to be true. Certified 
at Washington, this 18th day of April, Anno Domini 1798. 

WILLIAM HUSTON. 



APPENDIX. 251 

The certificate of JACOB Newland, of Shelby county, Kentucky, 
communicated hy the Hon. Judge Innes, of Kentucky. 
In the year 1774, I lived on the waters of Short Creek, a branch 
of the Ohio, twelve miles above Wheeling. Sometime in June or in 
July of that year, Captain Michael Cresap raised a party of men, 
and came out under control Colonel M' Daniel, of Hampshire county, 
Virginia, whb commanded a detachment against the Wappotommaka 
towns on the Muskinghum. I met with Captain Cresap, at Redstone 
fort, and entered his company. Being very well acquainted with 
him, we conversed freely; and he, among other conversations, in- 
formed me several times of falling in with some Indians on the Ohio 
some distance below the mouth of Yellow Creek, and killed two or 
three of them ; and that this murder was before that of the Indians 
by Greathouse and others, at Yellow Creek. I do not recollect the 
reason which Captain Cresap assigned for committing the act, but 
never understood that the Indians gave any offence. Certified under 
my hand this 15th day of November, 1799, being an inhabitant of 
Shelby county, and State of Kentucky. 

JACOB NEWLAND. 



The certificate of JoHN Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg, 
Virginia; coimmmicated by Mann Page, Ksq. of Mansfield, near 
Fredericksburg, xoho, in the letter accompanying it, says, " Mr. 
John Anderson has for many years past been settled in Fredericks- 
burg, in the mercantile line. I have knoicn him in prosperous 
and adverse situations. He has always shown the greatest degree 
of equanimity, his honesty and vei'acity are unimpeachable. These 
things can be attested by all the respectable part of the town and 
neighborhood of Fredericksburg." 

Mr. John Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg, says, that in 
the year 1774, being a trader in the Indian country, he was at Pitts- 
burg, to which place he had a cargo brought up the river in a boat, na- 
vigated by a Delaware Indian and a white man. That on their return 
down the river, with a cargo, belonging to Messrs. Butler, Michael 
[1] Cresap fired on the boat, and killed the Indian, after which two men of 
the name of Gatewood, and others of the name of *Tumblestone, who 

* The popular pronunciation of Tomlinson, which was the real name. 



252 APPENDIX. 

lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, with whom 
they were on the most friendly terms, invited a party of them to 
come over and drink with them j and that, when the Indians were 
[3] drunk, they murdered them to the number of six ; among them was 
Logan's mother. That five other Indians uneasy at the absence of 
their friends, came over the river to enquire after them ; when they 
[4] were fired upon, and two were killed, and the others wounded. This 
was the origin of the war. 

I certify the above to be true to the best of my recollection. 

JOHN ANDERSON. 

Attest : — David Blair, 30th June, 1798. 



The Deposition of James Chambers, communicated hy David 
Reddick, Esq. Protlwnotary of Washington county, Pennsylvania, 
who in the letter inclosing it shews that he entertains the most per- 
fect confidence in the truth of Mr. Chambers. 

Washington County, sc. 
Personally came before me Samuel Shannon, Esq., one of the Com- 
monwealth Justices for the county of Washington in the State of 
Pennsylvania, James Chambers, who being sworn according to law, 
deposeth and saith that in the Spring of the year 1774, he resided on 
the frontier near Baker's Bottom on the Ohio ; that he had an inti- 
mate companion, with whom he sometimes lived, named " Edward 
King." [2] That a report reached him that Michael Cresap had killed 
some Indians near Grave Creek, friends to an Indian, known by the 
name of " Logan." [3] That other of his friends, following down the 
river, having received intelligence, and fearing to proceed, lest Cresap 
might fall in with them, encamped near the mouth of Yellow Creek, 
opposite Baker's Bottom ; that Daniel Grreathouse had determined to 
kill them ; had made the secret known to the deponent's companion. 
King ; that the deponent was earnestly solicited to be of the party, 
and, as an inducement, was told that they would get a great deal of 
plunder; and further, that the Indians would be made drunk by 
Baker, and that little danger would follow the expedition. The 
deponent refused having any hand in killing unoffending people. His 
companion. King, went with Greathouse, with divers others, some of 
whom had been collected at a considerable distance under an idea 
that Joshua Baker's family was in danger from the Indians, as war 
had been commenced between Cresap and them already ; that Edward 



APPENDIX. 253 

King, as well as others of the party, did not conceal from the depo- 
nent the most minute circumstances of this affair; they informed 
him that Greathouse, concealing his people, went over to the Indian 
encampments and counted their number, and found that they were 
too large a party to attack with his strength ; that he had requested 
Joshua Baker, when any of them came to his house, (which they 
had been in the habit of,) to give them what rum they could drink, 
and to let him know when they were in a proper train, and that he 
would then fall on them ; that accordingly they found several men 
and women at Baker's house ; that one of these women had cautioned 
Greathouse, when over in the Indian camp, that he had better return 
home, as the Indian men were drinking, and that having heard of 
Cresap's attack on their relations down the river, they were angry, 
and, in a friendly manner, told him to go home. Greathouse, with 
his party, fell on them, and killed all except a little girl, which the 
deponent saw with the party after the slaughter : [4] that the Indians 
in the camp hearing the firing, manned two canoes, supposing their 
friends at Baker's to be attacked, as was supposed; the party under 
Greathouse prevented their landing by a well directed fire, which 
did execution in the canoes : that Edward King shewed the deponent 
one of the scalps. The deponent further saith, that the settlements 
near the river broke up, and he the deponent immediately repaired to 
Catfish's camp, and lived some time with Mr. William Huston : that 
not long after his arrival, Cresap, with his party, returning from the 
Ohio, came to Mr. Huston's and tarried some time : that in various 
conversations with the party, and in particular with a Mr. Smith, 
who had one arm only, he was told that the Indians were acknow- 
ledged and known to be Logan's friends which they had killed, and [2] 
that he heard the party say, that Logan would probably avenge their 
deaths. 

They acknowledged that the Indians passed Cresap's encampment 
on the bank of the river in a peaceable manner, and encamped below 
him; that they went down and fired on the Indians, and killed 
several ; that the survivors flew to their arms and fired on Cresap, 
and wounded one man, whom the deponent saw carried on a litter by 
[2] the party ; that the Indians killed by Cresap were not only Logan's 
relations, but of the women killed at Baker's one was said and gene- 
[3] rally believed to be Logan's sister. The deponent further saith, that 
on the relation of the attack by Cresap on the unofiending Indians, 
he exclaimed in their hearing, that it was an atrocious murder : on 



254 APPENDIX. 

which Mr, Smith threatened the deponent with the tomahawk ; so 
that he was obliged to be cautious, fearing an injury, as the party 
appeared to have lost, in a great degree, sentiments of humanity as 
well as the ejBFects of civilization. Sworn and subscribed at Wash- 
ington, the 20th day of April, Anno Domini 1798. 

JAMES CHAMBERS. 
Before Samuel Shannon. 



Washington County, sc. 

I, David Reddick, prothonotary of the court of common pleas, for 
the county of Washington, in the State of Pennsylvania, do certify 
that Samuel Shannon, Esq. before whom the within af&davit was 
made, was, at the time thereof, and still is, a justice of the peace in 
and for the county of Washington aforesaid j and that full credit is 
due to all his judicial acts as such as well in courts of justice as 
thereout. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed 
the seal of my office at Washington, the 26th day of April, Anno 
Domini 1798. 

[Seal.] DAVID REDDICK. 



Tlie certificate of Charles Polke, of Shelby county in Kentucky^ 
communicated hy the Hon. Judge Innes, of Kentiichy, wJio in the 
letter inclosing it, together with Newland's certificate, and his own 
declaration of the information given him hy Baher, says, " / am 
tcell acquainted loith Jacoh Newland, he is a man of integrity. 
Charles Polke and Joshua Baker both support respectable char- 
acters." 

About the latter end of April or beginning of May, 1774, I lived 
on the waters of Cross Creek, about sixteen miles from Joshua 
Baker, who lived on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. 
[3] A number of persons collected at my house, and proceeded to the 
said Baker's and murdered several Indians, among whom was a 
woman said to be the sister of the Indian chief, Logan. The prin- 
cipal leader of the party was Daniel Greathouse. To the best of my 
recollection the cause which gave rise to the murders was, a general 
idea that the Indians were meditating an attack on the frontiers. 
Captain Michael Cresap was not of the party ; but I recollect that 
some time before the perpetration of the above fact it was currently 



APPENDIX. 255 

[2] reported that Captain Cresap had murdered some Indians on the 
Ohio, one or two, some distance below Wheeling. 

Certified by me, an inhabitant of Shelby county and State of Ken- 
tucky, this 15th day of November, 1799. 

CHARLES POLKE. 



The Declaration of the Hon. Judge Innes, of Frankfort, in Ken- 
tucky. 

On the 14 th of November, 1799, I accidentally met upon the road 
Joshua Baker, the person referred to in the certificate signed by 
[3] Polke, who informed me that the murder of the Indians in 1774, 
opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, was perpetrated at his house by 
32 men, led on by Daniel Greathouse; that 12 were killed, and 6 or 
8 wounded; among the slain was a sister, and other relations of the 
Indian Chief, Logan. Baker says Captain Michael Cresap was not 
of the party ; that some days preceding the murder at his house two 
Indians left him, and were on their way home ; that they fell in with 
Captain Cresap and a party of land improvers on the Ohio, and were 
[1] murdered, if not by Cresap himself, with his approbation ; he being 
the leader of the party, and that he had this information from Cresap. 

HARBY INNES. 



The Declaration of William Robinson. 

William Robinson, of Clarksburg, in the county of Harrison, and 
State of Virginia, subscriber to these presents, declares that he was, 
in the year 1774, a resident on the West fork of Monongahela River, 
in the county then called West Augusta, and being in his field on 
the 12th of July, with two other men, they were surprised by a 
party of eight Indians, who shot down one of the others, and made 
himself and the remaining one prisoners ; this subscriber's wife and 
four children having been previously conveyed by him for safety to a 
fort about 24 miles off; that the principal Indian of the party which 
took them was Captain Logan ; that Logan spoke English well, and 
very soon manifested a friendly disposition to this subscriber, and 
told him to be of good heart, that he would not be killed, but must 
go with him to his town, where he would probably be adopted in 



256 APPENDIX. 

some of their families ; but, abDve all things, that he must not at- 
tempt to run away ; that in the course of the journey to the In- 
dian town he generally endeavored to keep close to Logan, who had a 
great deal of conversation with him, always encouraging him to be 
cheerful and without fear, for that he would not be killed, but should 
become one of them, and constantly impressing on him not to at- 
tempt to run away ; that in these conversations he always charged 
Captain Michael Cresap with the murder of his family ; that on his 
arrival in the town, which was on the 18th of July, he was tied to a 
stake, and a great debate arose whether he should not be burnt; Lo- 
gan insisted on having him adopted, while others contended to burn 
him; that at length Logan prevailed, tied a belt of wampum round 
him as the mark of adoption, loosed him from the post, and carried 
him to the cabin of an old squaw, where Logan pointed out a person 
who he said was this subscriber's cousin, and he afterwards under- 
stood that the old woman was his aunt, and two others his brothers, 
and that he now stood in the place of a warrior of the family who 
had been killed at Yellow Creek ; that about three days after this 
Logan brought him a piece of paper, and told him he must write a 
letter for him, which he meant to carry and leave in some house 
where he should kill somebody ; that he made ink with gunpowder, 
and the subscriber proceeded to write the letter by his direction', ad- 
dressing Captain Michael Cresap in it, and that the purport of it 
was, to ask " why he had killed his people ? That some time before 
they had killed his people at some place (the name of which the sub- 
scriber forgets) which he had forgiven ; but since that he had killed 
his people again at Yellow Creek, and taken his cousin, a little girl, 
prisoner ; that therefore he must war against the whites, but that he 
would exchange the subscriber for his cousin." And signed it with 
Logan's name, which letter Logan took and set out again to war; 
and the contents of this letter, as recited by the subscriber, calling 
to mind, that stated by Judge Innes to have been left, tied to a war 
club, in a house, where a family was murdered, and that being read 
to the subscriber, he recognises it, and declares he verily believes it 
to have been the identical letter which he wrote, and supposes he was 
mistaken in stating, as he has done before from memory, that the 
offer of the exchange was proposed in the letter ; that it is probable 
it was only promised him by Logan, but not put in the letter ; while 
he was with the old woman, she repeatedly endeavored to make him 
sensible that she had been of the party at Yellow Creek, and by 



APPENDIX. 257 

signs shewed how they decoyed her friends over the river to drink, 
and when they were reeling and tumbling about, tomahawked them (3) 
all, and that whenever she entered on this subject she was thrown 
into the most violent agitations, and that he afterwards understood 
that, amongst the Indians killed at Yellow Creek was a sister of Lo- 
gan, very big with child, whom they ripped open, and stuck on a 
pole ; that he continued with the Indians till the month of Novem- 
ber, when he was released in consequence of the peace made by them 
with Lord Dunmore; that, while he remained with them, the In- 
dians in general were very kind to him, and especially those who 
were his adopted relations ; but, above all, the old woman and family 
in which he lived, who served him with every thing in their power, 
and never asked, or even suffered him to do any labor, seeming in 
truth to consider and respect him as the friend they had lost. All 
which several matters and things, so far as they are stated to be of 
his own knowledge, this subscriber solemnly declares to be true, and 
so far as they are stated on information from others, he believes them 
to be true. Given and declared under his hand at Philadelphia this 
28th day of February, 1800. 

WILLIAM KOBINSON. 



The deposition of Col. William M'Kee, of Lincoln coxinty, Ken- 
tucky, communicated hy the Hon. John Brown, one of the Sena- 
tors in Congress from Kentucky. 

Colonel William M'Kee, of Lincoln county, declare th that in Au- 
tumn, 1774, he commanded as a Captain in the Botetourt regiment 
under Col. Andrew Lewis, afterwards General Lewis ; and fought in 
the battle at the mouth of Kanhaway, on the 10th of October in that 
year. That after the battle, Colonel Lewis marched the militia across 
the Ohio, and proceeded towards the Shawnee towns on Scioto ; but 
before they reached the towns. Lord Dunmore, who was commander in 
chief of the army, and had, with a large part thereof been up the 
Ohio about Hockhockin, when the battle was fought, overtook the 
militia, and informed them of his having since the battle concluded a 
treaty with the Indians, upon which the whole army returned. 

And the said William declareth that, on the evening of that day on 

which the junction of the troops took place, he was in company with 

Lord Dunmore and several of his officers, and also conversed with 

several who had been with Lord Dunmore at the treaty ; said Wil- 

17 



258 APPENDIX. 

Ham on that evening heard repeated conversations concerning an ex- 
traordinary speech made at the treaty, or sent there by a chieftain of 
the Indians named Logan, and heard several attempts at a rehearsal 
of it. The speech as rehearsed excited the particular attention of 
said William, and the most striking membsrs of it were impressed on 
his memory. 

And he declares that when Thomas Jefierson's Notes on Virginia 
were published, and he came to peruse the same, he was struck with 
the speech of Logan as there set forth, as being substantially the 
same, and accordant with the speech he heard rehearsed in the camp 
as aforesaid. 

Signed, WILLIAM M'KEE. 

Danville, December \%tli, 1799. 
We certify that Colonel William M'Kee this day signed the ori- 
ginal certificate, of which the foregoing is a true copy, in our presence. 

JAMES SPEED, Jr. 
J. H. DEWEES. 



The certificate of the Hon. Stevens Thompson Mason, one of the 
Senators in Congress from the State of Virginia. 

" Logan's speech, delivered at the treaty, after the battle in which 
Col. Lewis was killed in 1774." 

[Here follows a copy of the speech, agreeing verbatim with that 
printed in Dixon and Hunter's Yirginia Gazette of February 4, 1775, 
under the Williamsburg head. At the foot is this certificate.] 

" The foregoing is a copy taken by me when a boy at school, in 
the year 1775, or at the farthest in 1776, and lately found in an old 
pocket book, containing papers and manuscripts of that period. 

STEVENS THOMPSON MASON. 
January 20th, 1798." 

A copy of Logan's S2)eech given by the late General Mercer, who 
fell in the battle of Trenton, January, 1776, to Lewis Willis, 
Usqtiire, of Fredericksburg, in Virginia, upwards of 20 years 
ago, (^from the date of February, 1798,) communicated through 
Mann Page, Esquire. 

" The speech of Logan, a Shawanese chief, to Lord Dunmore." 
[Here follows a copy of the speech, agreeing verbatim with that in 
the Notes on Virginia.] 



APPENDIX. 259 

A copy of Logan's speech from the Notes on Virginia having 
been sent to Captain Andreav Kodgers of Kentucky, he subjoined 
the following certificate : — 

In the year 1774 I was out with the Virginia volunteers, and was 
in the battle at the mouth of Canhawee, and afterwards proceeded 
over the Ohio to the Indian towns. I did not hear Logan make the 
above speech ; but, from the unanimous accounts of those in camp, I 
have reason to think that said speech was delivered to Dunmore. I 
remember to have heard the very things contained in the above 
speech, related by some of our people in camp at that time. 

ANDREW RODGERS. 



The declaration of Mr. John Heckewelder, for several years a 
Missionary from the society of Moravians, among the Western 
Indians. 

In the Spring of the year 1774, at a time when the interior part 
of the Indian country all seemed peace and tranquil, the villagers on 
the Muskinghum were suddenly alarmed by two Runners, (Indians,) 
who reported " that the Big Knife, (Virginians,) had attacked the 
Mingo settlement on the Ohio, and butchered even the women with 
their children in their arms, and that Logan's family were among the 
slain." A day or two after this, several Mingoes made their appear- 
ance ', among whom were one or two wounded, who had in this man- 
ner effected their escape. Exasperated to a high degree, after rela- 
ting the particulars of this transaction, (which for humanity's sake I 
forbear to mention,) after resting some time on the treachery of the 
Big Knives, of their barbarity to those who are their friends, they 
gave a figurative description of the perpetrators ; named Cresap as 
having been at the head of this murderous act. They made mention 
of nine being killed and two wounded, and were prone to take 
revenge on any person of white color, for which reason the mission- 
aries had to shut themselves up during their stay. From this time 
terror daily increased. The exasperated friends and relations of these 
murdered women and children, with the nations to whom they be- 
longed, passed and re-passed through the villages of the quiet Dela- 
ware towns, in search of white people, making use of the most abu- 
sive language to these, (the Delawares,) since they would not join in 
taking revenge. Traders had either to hide themselves, or try to get 
out of the country the best way they could. And even at this time 



260 APPENDIX. 

they yet found such true friends among the Indians, who, at the risk 
of their own lives, conducted them, with the best -part of their pro- 
perty, to Pittsburg J although (shameful to relate !) these benefactors 
were, on their return from this mission, waylaid, and fired upon by 
whites, while crossing Big Beaver in a canoe, and had one man, a 
Shawanese, named Silverheels, (a man of note in his nation) wounded 
in his body. This exasperated the Shawanese so much, that they, or 
at least a great part of them, immediately took an active part in the 
cause ; and the Mingoes, (nearest connected with the former,) became 
unbounded in their rage. A Mr. Jones, son to a respectable family 
of this neighborhood, (Bethlehem,) who was then on his passage up 
Muskinghum, with two other men, was fortunately espied by a 
friendly Indian woman at the falls of Muskinghum, who, through 
motives of humanity alone, informed Jones of the nature of the 
times, and that he was running right in the hands of the enraged, 
and put him on the way where he might perhaps escape the vengeance 
of the strolling parties. One of Jones' men, fatigued by traveling 
in the woods, declared he would rather die than remain longer in this 
situation ; and hitting accidentally on a path, he determined to follow 
the same. A few hundred yards decided Ms fate. He was met by a 
party of about fifteen Mingoes, (and as it happened, almost within 
sight of White Eyes' town,) murdered, and cut to pieces; and his 
limbs and flesh stuck up on the bushes. White Eyes, on hearing the 
scalp halloo, ran immediately out with his men to see what the mat- 
ter was, and finding the mangled body in this condition, gathered the 
whole and buried it. But next day, when some of the above party 
found on their return the body interred, they instantly tore up the 
ground, and endeavored to destroy or scatter about the parts at a 
greater distance. White Eyes, with the Delawares, watching their 
motions, gathered and interred the same a second time. The war 
party finding this out, ran furiously into the Delaware village, ex- 
claiming against the conduct of these people, setting forth the cruelty 
of Cresap towards women and children, and declaring at the same 
time that they would, in consequence of this cruelty, serve every 
white man they should meet with in the same manner. Times 
grew worse and worse, war parties went out and took scalps and 
prisoners, and the latter, in hopes it might be of service in saving 
their lives, exclaimed against the barbarous act which gave rise to 
these troubles and against the perpetrators. The name of Great- 
house was mentioned as having been accomplice to Cresap. So de- 



APPENDIX. 261 

testable became the latter name among the Indians, that I have fre- 
quently heard them apply it to the worst of things ; also, in quieting 
or stilling their children, I have heard them say, " Hush ! Cresap will 
fetch you ; whereas otherwise, they name the owl." The warriors 
having afterwards bent their course more toward the Ohio, and down 
the same, peace seemed with us already on the return ; and this be- 
came the case soon after the decided battle fought on the Kanhaway. 
Traders, returning now into the Indian country again, related the 
story of the above mentioned massacre, after the same manner, and 
with the same words, we have heard it related hitherto. So the re- 
port remained, and was believed by all who resided in the Indian 
country. So it was represented numbers of times, in the peaceable 
Delaware towns, by the enemy. So the Christian Indians were con- 
tinually told they would one day be served. With tins impression, a 
petty chief hurried all the way from Wabash in 1779 to take his re- 
lations (who were living with the peaceable Delawares near Coshach- 
king,) out of the reach of the Big Knives, in whose friendship he 
never more would place any confidence. And when this man found 
that his numerous relations would not break friendship with the Ame- 
ricans, nor be removed, he took two of his relations (women) off by 
force, saying, " The whole crop should not be destroyed ; I will have 
seed out of it for a new crop," alluding to, and repeatingly reminding 
these of the family of Logan, who he said had been real friends to 
the whites, and yet were cruelly murdered by them. 

In Detroit, where I arrived the same Spring, the report respecting 
the murder of the Indians on Ohio (amongst whom was Logan's fa- 
mily) was the same as related above ; and on my return to the United 
States in the Fall of 1786, and from that time, whenever and where- 
ever in my presence this subject was the topic of conversation, I 
found the report still the same, viz : that a person, bearing the name 
of Cresap, was the author or perpetrator of this deed. 

Logan was the second son of Shikellemus, a celebrated chief of 
the Cayuga nation. This chief, on account of his attachment to the 
English Government, was of great service to the country, having the 
confidence of all the Six Nations, as well as that of the English ; he 
was very useful in settling disputes, &c., &c. He was highly esteem- 
ed by Conrad Weisser, Esq., (an officer for government in the Indian 
department,) with whom he acted conjunctly, and was faithful unto 
his death. His residence was at Shamokin, where he took great de- 
light in acts of hospitality to such of the white people whose busi;- 



262 APPENDIX. 

ness led them that way. * His name and fame were so high on re- 
cord, that Count Zinzendorf, when in this country in 1742, became 
desirous of seeing him, and actually visited him at his house in 
Shamokin. f About the year 1772 Logan was introduced to me, by 
an Indian friend, as son to the late reputable chief Shikellemus, and 
as a friend to the white people. In the course of conversation I 
thought him a man of superior talents than Indians generally were. 
The subject turning on vice and immorality, he confessed his too 
great share of this, especially his fondness for liquor. He exclaimed 
against the white people for imposing liquors upon the Indians ; he 
otherwise admired their ingenuity ; spoke of gentlemen, but observed 
the Indians unfortunately had but few of these as their neighbors, 
&c. He spoke of his friendship to the white people, wished always 
to be a neighbor to them, intended to settle on the Ohio, below Big 
Beaver; was (to the best of my recollection) then encamped at the 
mouth of this river, (Beaver;) urged me to pay him a visit, &c. 
\_Nbte. — I was then living at the Moravian town en this river, in the 
neighborhood of Cuskuskoe. In April 1773, while on my passage 
down the Ohio for Muskinghum, I called at Logan's settlement, 
where I received every civility I could expect from such of the family 
as were at home.] 

Indian reports concerning Logan, after the death of his family, 
ran to this : that he exerted himself during the Shawanee war, (then 
so called) to take all the revenge he could, declaring he had lost all 
confidence in the white people. At the time of negotiation he de- 
clared his reluctance in laying down the hatchet, not having (in his 
opinion) yet taken ample satisfaction, yet, for the sake of the nation, 
he would do it. His expressions, from time to time, denoted a deep 
melancholy. Life (said he) had become a torment to him: he 
knew no more what pleasure was : he thought it had been better if 
he had never existed, &c., &c. Report further states, that he became 
in some measure delirious, declared he would kill himself, went to 
Detroit, drank very freely, and did not seem to care what he did, and 
what became of himself. In this condition he left Detroit, and on 
his way between that place and Miami was murdered. In October 
1781, (while as prisoner on my way to Detroit,) I was shown the 



* The preceding account of Shikellemus, [Logan's father] is copied from manu- 
scripts of the Rev. C. Pyrlseuis, written between the years 1741 and 1748. 

t See G. H. Hoskiel's History of the Mission of the United Brethren, Ac., part 
Ji., chap, ii., page 31. 



APPENDIX. 263 

spot where this should have happened. Having had an opportunity 
since last June of seeing the Rev. David Zeisberger, Sr., missionary 
to the Delaware nation of Indians, who had resided among the same 
on Muskinghum, at the time when the murder was committed on the 
family of Logan, I put the following questions to him : 1st. Who he 
had understood it was that had committed the murder on Logan's 
family? And, 2dly, whether he had any knowledge of a speech 
sent to Lord Dunmore by Logan, in consequence of this aflfair, &c. 
To which Mr. Zeisberger's answer was : That he had, from that time 
when this murder was committed to the present day, firmly believed 
the common report, (which he had never heard contradicted,) viz : 
that one Cresap was the author of the massacre ; or that it was com- 
mitted by his orders, and that he had known Logan as a boy, had fre- 
quently seen him from that time, and doubted not in the least that 
Logan had sent such a speech to Lord Dunmore on this occasion, as 
he understood from me had been published ; that expressions of that 
kind from Indians were familiar to him ; that Logan in particular was 
a man of quick comprehension, good judgment and talents. Mr. 
Zeisberger has been a missionary upwards of fifty years ; his age is 
about eighty ; speaks both the language of the Onondagoes and the 
Delawares ; resides at present on the Muskinghum, with his Indian 
congregation, and is beloved and respected by all who are acquainted 
with him. 

JOHN HECKEWELDER. 



From this testimony/ the following historical statement results : 

In April or May 1774, a number of people being engaged in look- 
ing out for settlements on the Ohio, information was spread among 
them that the Indians had robbed some of the land-jobbers, as those 
adventurers were called. Alarmed for their safety, they collected to- 
gether at Wheeling Creek. * Hearing there that there were two In- 
dians and some traders a little above Wheeling, Captain Michael 
Cresap, one of the party, proposed to waylay and kill them. The pro- 
position, though opposed, was adopted. A party went up the river 
with Cresap at their head, and killed the two Indians. 

■f The same afternoon it was reported that there was a party of In- 
dians on the Ohio, a little below Wheeling. Cresap and his party 
immediately proceeded down the river, and encamped on the bank. 

* First murder of tlie two Indians by Cresap. f Second murder on Grave Creek. 



264 APPENDIX. 

The Indians passed him peaceably, and encamped at the mouth of 
Grrave Creek, a little below. Cresap and his party attacked them, 
and killed several. The Indians returned the fire, and wounded one 
of Cresap's party. Among the slain of the Indians were some of 
Logan's family. Colonel Zane, indeed, expresses a doubt of it; but 
it is affirmed by Huston and Chambers. Smith, one of the murder- 
ers, said they were known and acknowledged to be Logan's friends, 
and the party themselves generally said so ; boasted of it in presence 
of Cresap; pretended no provocation, and expressed their expecta- 
tions that Logan would probably avenge their deaths. 

Pursuing these examples,* Daniel Glreathouse and one Tomlinson, 
who lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, and 
were in habits of friendship with them, collected at the house of 
Polke on Cross Creek, about 16 miles from Baker's Bottom, a party 
of 32 men. Their object was to attack a hunting encampment of 
Indians, consisting of men, women and children, at the mouth of Yel- 
low Creek, some distance above Wheeling. They proceeded, and when 
arrived near Baker's Bottom, they concealed themselves, and Grreat- 
house crossed the river to the Indian camp. Being among them as a 
friend he counted them, and found them too strong for an open attack 
with his force. While here, he was cautioned by one of the women 
not to stay, for that the Indian men were drinking, and having heard 
of Cresap's murder of their relations at Grave Creek, were angry, and 
she pressed him in a friendly manner to go home ; whereupon, after 
inviting them to come over and drink, he returned to Baker's, which 
was a tavern, and desired that when any of them should come to his 
house he would give them as much rum as they would drink. When 
his plot was ripe, and a sufficient number of them were collected at 
Baker's and intoxicated, he and his party fell on them and massacred 
the whole, except a little girl, whom they preserved as a prisoner. 
Among these was the very woman who had saved his life, by pressing 
him to retire from the drunken wrath of her friends, when he was 
spying their camp at Yellow Creek. Either she herself, or some 
other of the murdered women, was the sister of Logan, very big with 
child, and inhumanly and indecently butchered; and there were 
others of his relations who fell here. 

The party on the other side of the river, f alarmed for their friends 
at Baker's, on hearing the report of the guns, manned two canoes and 
sent them over. They were received, as they approached the shore, 

* Massacre at Baker's Bottom, opposite Yellow Creek, by Greathouse. 
■}■ Fourth murder of Greathouse. 



APPENDIX. 265 

by a well directed fire from Grreathouse's party, which killed some, 
wounded others, and obliged the rest to put back. Baker tells us 
there were twelve killed, and six or eight wounded. 

This commenced the war, of which Logan's war club and note left 
in the house of a murdered family was the notification. In the course 
of it, during the ensuing Summer, great numbers of innocent men, 
women and children, fell victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife 
of the Indians, till it was arrested in the Autumn following by the 
battle at Point Pleasant, and the pacification with Lord Dunmore, at 
which the speech of Logan was delivered. 

Of the genuineness of that speech nothing need be said. It was 
known to the camp where it was delivered ; it was given out by Lord 
Dunmore and his officers ; it ran through the public papers of these 
States ; was rehearsed as an exercise at schools ; published in the pa- 
pers and periodical works of Europe ; and all this a dozen years be- 
fore it was copied into the Notes on Virginia. In fine, General Gib- 
son concludes the question forever, by declaring that he received it 
from Logan's hand, delivered it to Lord Dunmore, translated it for 
him, and that the copy in the Notes on Virginia is a faithiul copy. 

The popular account of these transactions, as stated in the Notes 
on Virginia, appears, on collecting exact information, imperfect and 
erroneous in its details. It was the belief of the day ; but how far 
its errors were to the prejudice of Cresap, the reader will now judge. 
That he, and those under him, murdered two Indians above Wheel- 
ing; that they murdered a larger number at Grave Creek, among 
whom were a part of the family and relations of Logan, cannot be 
questioned; and as little that this led to the massacre of the rest of 
the family at Yellow Creek. Logan imputed the whole to Cresap in 
his war note and peace speech; the Indians generally imputed it to 
Cresap ; Lord Dunmore and his officers imputed it to Cresap ; the 
country with one accord imputed it to him ; and whether he were in- 
nocent, let the universal verdict now declare. 



266 APPENDIX 



The declaration of John Sappington, received after the publica- 
tion of the preceding Appendix. 

1, John Sappington, declare myself to be intimately acquainted 
with all the circumstances respecting the destruction of Logan's fa- 
mily, and do give in the following narrative a true statement of that 
affair : 

Logan's family (if it was his family) was not killed by Cresap, 
nor with his knowledge, nor by his consent, but by the Grreathouses 
and their associates. They were killed 30 miles above Wheeling, 
near the mouth of Yellow Creek. Logan's camp was on one side of 
the river Ohio, and the house, where the murder was committed, op- 
posite to it on the other side. They had encamped there only four or 
five days, and during that time had lived peaceably and neighborly 
with the whites on the opposite side, until the very day the affair hap- 
pened. A little before the period alluded to, letters had been received 
by the inhabitants from a man of great influence in that country, and 
who was then I believe at Capteener, informing them that war was at 
hand, and desiring them to be on their guard. In consequence of 
those letters, and other rumors of the same import, almost all the in- 
habitants fled for safety into the settlements. It was at the house of 
one Baker the murder was committed. Baker was a man who sold 
rum, and the Indians had made frequent visits at his house, induced 
probably by their fondness for that liquor. He had been particularly 
desired by Cresap to remove and take away his rum, and he was 
actually preparing to move at the time of the murder. The evening 
before a squaw came over to Baker's house, and by her crying seemed 
to be in great distress. The cause of her uneasiness being asked, she 
refused to tell ; but getting Baker's wife alone, she told her that the 
Indians were going to kill her and all her family the next day, that 
she loved her, did not wish her to be killed, and therefore told her 
what was intended, that she might save herself. In consequence of 
this information, Baker got a number of men, to the amount of twen- 
ty-one, to come to his house, and they were all there before morning. 
A council was held, and it was determined that the men should lie 
concealed in the back apartment ; that if the Indians did come and 
behaved themselves peaceably, they should not be molested ; but if 
not, the men were to shew themselves, and act accordingly. Early 
in the morning seven Indians, four men and three squaws, came over. 



APPENDIX. 267 

Logan's brother was one of them. They immediately got rum, and 
all, except Logan's brother, became very much intoxicated. At this 
time all the men were concealed, except the man of the house. Baker, 
and two others who staid out with him. Those Indians came un- 
armed. After some time Logan's brother took down a coat and hat 
belonging to Baker's brother-in-law, who lived with him, and put 
them on, and setting his arms akimbo, began to strut about, till at 
length coming up to one of the men, he attempted to strike him, say- 
ing, " white man son of a bitch." The white man, whom he treated 
thus, kept out of his way for some time, but growing irritated he 
j Limped to his gun, and shot the Indian as he was making to the door 
with the coat and hat on him. The men who lay concealed then 
rushed out and killed the whole of them, excepting one child, which 
I believe is alive yet. But before this happened, one with two, the 
other with five Indians, all naked, painted, and armed completely for 
war, were discovered to start from the shore on which Logan's camp 
was. Had it not been for this circumstance, the white men would 
not have acted as they did ; but this confirmed what the squaw had 
told before. The white men having killed as aforesaid the Indians in 
the house, ranged themselves along the bank of the river to receive 
the canoes. The canoe with the two Indians came near, being the 
foremost. Our men fired upon them and killed them both. The 
other canoe then went back. After this two other canoes started, the 
one containing eleven, the other seven Indians, painted and armed as 
the first. They attempted to land below our men, but were fired 
upon, had one killed, and retreated, at the same time firing back. To 
the best of my recollection there were three of the Greathouses en- 
gaged in this business. This is a true representation of the afiair 
from beginning to end. I was intimately acquainted with Cresap, 
and know he had no hand in that transaction. He told me himself 
afterwards, at Redstone Old Fort, that the day before Logan's people 
were killed, he, with a small party, had an engagement with a party 
of Indians on Cap teener, about forty-four miles lower down. Lo- 
gan's people were killed at the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the 24th 
of May, 1774 ; and the 23d, the day before, Cresap was engaged, as 
already stated. I know likewise that he was generally blamed for it, 
and believed by all, who were not acquainted with the circumstances, 
to have been the perpetrator of it. I know that he despised and 
hated the Glreathouses ever afterwards on account of it. I was inti- 
mately acquainted with General Gibson, and served under him during 



268 APPENDIX. 

the late war, and I have a discharge from him now lying in the land 
office at Richmond, to which I refer any person for my character, who 
might be disposed to scruple my veracity. I was likewise at the 
treaty held by Lord Dunmore with the Indians at Chelicothe. As 
for the speech said to have been delivered by Logan on that occasion, 
it might have been, or might not, for any thing I know, as I never 
heard of it till long afterwards. I do not believe that Logan had any 
relations killed, except his brother. Neither of the squaws who were 
killed was his wife. Two of them were old women, and the third 
with her child, which was saved, I have the best reason in the world 
to believe was the wife and child of General Gibson. I know he edu- 
cated the child, and took care of it, as if it had been his own. Whe- 
ther Logan had a wife or not I cannot say ; but it is probable that as 
he was a chief, he considered them all as his people. All this I am 
ready to be qualified to at any time. 

JOHN SAPPINGTON. 
Attest — Samuel M'Kee, Jr. 



Madison County, Feb. IStJi, 1800. 

I do certify further that the above named John Sappington 
told me, at the same time and place at which he gave me the above 
narrative, that he himself was the man who shot the brother of Logan 
in the house as above related, and that he likewise killed cue of the 
Indians in one of the canoes, which came over from the opposite shore. 

He likewise told me that Cresap never said an angry word to him 
about the matter, although he was frequently in company with Cre- 
sap, and indeed had been, and continued to be, in habits of intimacy 
with that gentleman, and was always befriended by him on every oc- 
casion. He further told me that after they had perpetrated the mur- 
der, and were flying into the settlements, he met with Cresap, (if I 
recollect right at Redstone Old Fort,) and gave him a scalp, a very 
large fine one, as he expressed it, and adorned with silver. This 
scalp, I think he told me, was the scalp of Logan's brother, though as 
to this I am not absolutely certain. 

Certified by SAMUEL M'KEE, Jr. 



APPENDIX. 269 



Extract from a letter of Judge John Bannister Gibson to Ed- 
ward D. Ingraham, Esq., dated Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1846. 

" Though bred and born in the confines of civilization, Logan was 
in every respect, a savage. In the days of my boyhood I heard old 
men speak of him, who knew him when he lived on the Kishaco. 
quillas, near its junction with the Juniata, as sober, honest and hu- 
mane ; but afterwards he sought forgetfulness in indulgence : it un- 
chained the tiger in him. Though he professed to be done with re- 
sentments in his speech, he became ferocious towards every one and 
so dangerous, that one of his own relations was compelled to dispatch 
him." 



270 APPENDIX. 

TRANSLATIONS 

OF FRENCH, SPANISH AND ITALIAN NOTES. 



P. 24. (Note.) 
Another is mentioned by Clavigero : " The Bridge of God ; 
thus they call a vast mass of earth above the deep river Atoyaque, 
near the village of Moleaxac, about a hundred miles from Mexico, in 
the direction of Scirocco, over which carts and carriages pass without 
difficulty. It might be taken for a fragment of the adjacent moun- 
tain, torn from it, in times of old, by an earthquake." — History of 
Mexico, L. 1, § 3. 

P. 24. (Note.) 

This cave, or passage, is cut out of the live rock with such pre- 
cision that the inequalities on one side correspond with the projec- 
tions on the other side, as if that mountain had parted on purpose, 
with its turns and windings, to make a passage for the waters between 
the two lofty walls on both sides ; they being so like each other, that 
if they were joined together they would cover each other without 
leaving any cavity between them. 

P. 29. (Text,) 25th line. 

" Marble is very frequently found on the banks of most of these 
rivers : slate rocks also are seen there, and I have often had occasion 
to observe the close affinity between these two kinds of rock. I had 
made the same remark in the Cordilleras. There slate and marble 
often touch one another, and I have seen some rocks which were slate 
at one end and marble at the other. Every new liquefaction of rock, 
analogous to slate, and cementing its layers, makes the whole rock 
harder and more compact ; the rock is no longer slate, but becomes 
marble. Another rock, called schist, is also subject to this transfor- 
mation. Sometimes the layers not only are cemented together, but 
one piece of rock joins, as if by chance, another; and if the whole is 
then exposed to the action of gravel and of flint stones, rolled by 
flowing water, it is, as it were, rounded off, becomes nearly cylindric^ 
and assumes the appearance of the trunk of a tree ; so that it is 



APPENDIX. 271 

often witli difficulty distinguished from a real tree. I regretted 
much not to be able to take with me one of these apparent trees which 
I had found in a ravine between Guanaca and La Plata, at the foot of 
a hill, called La Subida del Frayle. This was a piece of marble, 20 
inches long, by 17 or 18 diameter ; the surface presented a kind of 
knots of various forms, and something like wood fibres was visible ; 
even the outline of the trunk was calculated to deceive me. There 
was an indentation on one side, and a projection on the opposite side, 
which remained equally inexplicable to myself, and to those who ac- 
companied me. I was only decided by noticing other pieces of 
schist, lying near, which began to assume the same appearance, but 
were not yet sufficiently changed to deceive one, and which, on the 
contrary, enlightened me as to the nature of the piece of marble. It 
is said that among various kinds of wood the gayac is the one which 
is most readily petrified, and I was assured that I would see below 
Mompox a cross, the upper part of which was still of this wood, 
whilst the lower part was actually flint. Several persons assured me 
they had drawn sparks from it. When I came to the spot several 
persons confirmed the report, but added that, six or seven years ago. 
an unusually high flood had caused the cross to fall into the river." — 
Page 93. 

P. 30. (Note.) 

" Here one observes no trace of those vast inundations which have 
left so many marks in all other countries. I made every efibrt to find 
some shell, but always in vain. It seems as if the mountains of 
Peru had been too high." — Bouguer, (&c.) 

P. 41. (Note,) 8th line. 

" In our times it has been seen in Italy for the first time." 
"It has its origin in the hot countries ©f America." — Zoologie, 
Greographique. — Page 74. 

P. 41. (Note.) 

" Potatoes are indigenous in Guyana." — Zimmerman Zool. G-eogr. 
26. " The Papa was brought to Mexico from South America, its 
native country." — 1. Clavigero, 58. 

P. 41. (Note.) 

" The maize came from America to Spain, and thence to other Eu- 
ropean countries." " The Spaniards in Europe and in America call 



272 APPENDIX. 

the maize maiz, a word derived from the language of Hayti, which 
was spoken in the island now called Hispaniola, or St. Domingo." — 
1. Clavigero, 56. "Maize, a grain granted by Providence to that 
portion of the globe, instead of the wheat of Europe, the rice of 
Asia, and the millet of Africa." — 2. Clavig., 218. Acosta classes 
Indian corn with the plants peculiar to America, observing that it is 
called " Tri^o de las Indias" (Indian wheat) in Spain, and " Grano 
de Turquia" (Turkey grain) in Italy. He says, " From hence 
came Indian corn, and why they call this most productive grain in 
Italian, Turkey grain, is more easily asked than answered. Because, 
in fact, there is no trace of such a plant in the old world, although 
the millet, which Pliny says came ten years before he wrote from 
India to Italy, has some resemblance to maize, inasmuch as he calls 
it a grain, which grows in stalks, and is covered with leaves, which 
has at the top a kind of hair, and is remarkably productive — all of 
which doerj not apply to mijo, by which they commonly mean millet. 
After all, the Creator rules all parts of the globe : to one he gave 
wheat, the principal food of man ; to the Indias he gave maize, which 
holds the second place, next to wheat, as a food for man and beast." — 
Acosta, iv., 16. 

P. 43. (Note.) 

Clavigero says : " I do not remember that any American nation 
has any tradition of elephants, or hippopotami, or other quadrupeds of 
equal size. I do not know that any of the numerous excavations made 
in New Spain has brought to light the carcass of a hippopotamus, or 
even the tooth of an elephant." — 125. 

P. 44. (Note.) 

2. Epoques, 232. Buffon pronounces it is not the grinder either 
of the elephant or hippopotamus, but of a species, " the first and the 
greatest of all land animals now lost." 

P. 48. (Note.) 

" The earth has (since) remained cold, unable to produce the prin- 
ciples necessary for the development of the germs of the largest quad- 
rupeds, which require for their growth and propagation all the heat 
and activity which the sun can give to the loving earth." — Xviii. 
156. " The temper of men and the size of animals depend upon 
the salubrity and the heat of the aii-." — lb. 160. 



APPENDIX. 273 

P. 49. (Note.) 

" All that is colossal and grand in Nature has been formed at the 
North." — 1. Epoq., 2.55. "It is in our Northern regions that 
living nature has risen to the largest dimensions." — lb. 263. 

P. 61. (Note.) 

'< Dogs have in Hispaniola grown so much in number and in size 
as to become the plague of that island. — Acosta iv., 33. 

P. 62. <Te.xt.) 

" Although the savage of the new world is nearly of the same 
height as man in our world, this does not suffice to constitute an ex- 
ception to the general fact, that all living nature is smaller on that 
continent. The savage is feeble, and small in some of his parts, and 
has little hair or beard ; although swifter than the European, because 
better accustomed to run ; he is, on the other hand, less strong ; he is 
also less sensitive, and yet more timid and cowardly ; he has no viva- 
city, no activity of mind ; the activity of his body is less an exercise, 
a voluntary motion, than a necessary action caused by want ; relieve 
him of hunger and thirst, and you deprive him of the active principle 
of all his movements ; he will rest stupidly upon his legs, or lying 
down entire days. There is no need for seeking farther the cause of 
the isolated mode of life of these savages and their repugnance for 
society : the most precious spark of the fire of Nature has been re- 
fused to them : they have no love for their wives, and consequently 
no love for their neighbors : as they know not this strongest and 
tenderest of all affections, their other feelings also are cold and lan- 
guid ; they love their pai-ents and children but little ; the closest of 
all ties, the family connexion, binds them, therefore, but loosely to- 
gether J between family and family there is no tie at all ; hence they 
have no communion, no Commonwealth, no state of society. Physi- 
cal love is their only morality ; their heart is icy, their society cold, 
and their rule despotic. They look upon their wives as servants for 
all work, or as beasts of burden, which they load without considera- 
tion with the produce of their hunting, and which they compel with- 
out mercy, without gratitude, to perform work which is often beyond 
their strength. They have only few children, and take little care of 
them. Everywhere the original defect appears : they are indifierent 
because they are impotent, and this indifference for the other sex :is 
the fundamental defect, which tarnishes their nature, prevents its de- 
18 



274 APPENDIX. 

« 
velopment, and destroying the very germs of life, uproots at tte same 
time society. Man is liere also no exception 'to the general rule. 
Nature, by refusing him the power of love, has treated him worse, 
and lowered him deeper, than any animal." 

P. 63. (Note.) 

Amer. Vesp., 13. " Beyond measure sensual." — 108. 

P. 63. (Note.) 

Amer. Vesp., 30, 31, 39, 75. "Of great strength and lofty 
mind." — lb. 78. 

P. 64. (Note,) 3d line. 

" The conquered Indians are the most cowardly and pusillanimous 
that can be seen : they excuse themselves, humble themselves to con- 
tempt, apologise for their inconsiderate temerity, and by supplication 
and prayer give the best proof of their want of courage. Either the 
accounts given in the History of the Conquest, of their great exploits, 
are a mere figure of speech, or the character of these people is not 
the same now as it was then; but this is beyond doubt, that the na- 
tions of the North enjoy the same liberty they have always had, 
without ever having been subject to foreign princes, and they live all 
their life according to their rules and usages, without any reason why 
they should change their character ; and herein they appear the same 
as those of Peru and of South America, now enslaved or never sub- 
jugated." 

[And the last line of same note :] " Hard labor destroys them, on 
account of the inhumanity with which they are treated." 

P. 65, (Note.) 

" They live a hundred and fifty years." — Amer. Vesp., 111. 

P. 60. (Note.) 

Amer. Vesp., 13. " Their women are very fertile," &c. 

P. 70. (Note.) 

" The earth is cold, unable to produce the principles necessary for 
the development of the germs of the largest quadrupeds, which re- 
quire, for their growth and propagation, all the heat and activity 
which the sun can give to the loving earth." — P. 156. "The temper 
of man and the size of animals depend upon the salubrity and the 
heat of the air." 



APPENDIX. 275 

[Further on.] "All that is colossal and grand in Nature has been 
formed in Northern countries/' — 1. Epoq., 255. " It is in our 
Northern regions that living nature has risen to the largest dimen- 
sions."— lb. 263. 

P. 72. (Note.) 

Amer. Vesp., 115. " Here the sky and the air are seldom dar- 
kened by clouds ; the days are almost always clear." 

P. 79. (Note?.) 

See Herrera, Dec. 1, L. 10, chap. 8. "When Yucatan was dis- 
covered, an abundance of wax and honey was found." — And ib. ch. 
9. " There are found hornets and bees, although the latter are 
smaller, and sting with more fury." — Dec. 2, L. 3, ch. 1. 

See Clavigero, 107. On the frontier of Gruayaquil there are 
found bees, which accumulate and make honey in the hollows of 
trees ; they are larger than flies ; the wax and the honey they make 
are red, and although it tastes well, it is not the same as in Castille." 
Herr. 5, 10, 10. 

P. 80. (Note.) 

" Several Indians have told us that they have seen on the banks of 
the river Coari, in the up-land, an open plain, Jlies, and a number of 
horned animals, objects which they had not seen before, and which 
prove that the sources of these rivers water a country adjoining the 
Spanish colonies of Upper Peru." 

P. 96. (Note.) 

" That there should be devised a way to bring many negroes from 
Gruinea, as the labor of one negro was worth more than that of four 
Indians." — Herrera, (&c.) 



N. B. — In the note to page 62, the Translator allowed him- 
self some slight liberty to avoid indelicate language. 



jypt 



Eye Draught 
MAMMOTH CAVE 



WARREN COUNTY. K? 



s s 




MU' TTte-prutdfuzl care if frpm JOtv (fOfhwideyteaiout 
SO /h. high in general ^t tketnff room U is fOO -fk H-t^e , 
ic-W or^^OfihTUgh. Zthaj httn explored, ctiwut YTniiet 
fromtht termination.- of^fU'TUirrOM'S. TTw Clojrimpreffnateel 
wi:ih. nitre has been fetoui, to tcffeneraZfy- oUtoat Ji^ deep, 
ejrtending cfuitt aenatf the cave. UncUrthis Clay isa,^ 'asti/oo 
of fine dry t and, the, depth of which hcu rufcr been^ascertcUnett 
The Clay inlfu firinMpai ccivt producet 6llKafSaltPetrt h> 
efery bushel. _ Thejund prodnoee ft' ito the i/iuhel-. 



larffe- (/uuntify of 
■ceUent SattPetre^ 



the commencenutd 
termituttton. fftfu 
GUuibcrSeUti 



,-not explored mare 
Vtan. ft mile. 



■".^,?^«>^. 















Miilliurs l.irfcfPhil'.- 



.^'p\'^ 




a I. (A 



A SKETCH 






cVseycral ttticUttt Fortilicativns ,sUiiatt 
on thr Uttte^janu River ttc The wal/s at' 
Uiese fi>rM'ie<xtn'ttj trt-r of^mi'th,f/-otti .f 
tv /Oi'i high, fnensiu-inif t/ffUTtiU^ufiwards 
or 30 /Tt across, ftv ditrtus on the tvalls. JJixes 
oTvarivus kimis, .*■ ties large as fourul in 
thr ceftmirj'. 

'^Aj-^ Liidit'w fufs a fettmetn heiU taketi /roni 
e'ne o/'thts<H-orfcs /roil H't YO/As. 






.:Votf 20inU, 

nboiit /(V^rrcJ oflanei, M 





;loooft 

Ui. 77iis work of fcrtH'ieation is a/togettur 
ci^t-arfiai ft'otn Iht oOurntiiiteirx *t'<trh-s 
i- Of J art, thf fast ibrfc, aiwu/ ZO^iiu l'r< 
itsjunrttiiti ifijii iht liltle Miami Jiiftr 




Jl^fU^ 




) 



K 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, COMPILED FOR THE YEARS 1790--1, 

^hnohifj tU eostent and relative situation of tJte sevei-al Countim ; tJieir distance from tU Seat of Government; Pojndation, Force, County Lieutenants, Representatives, &c.; also, the District ami County Courts; the Civil List of the CommonwrnWi <^c carefuUu collected from Pulr- ff - 7 n ? /I - 

authorities. To heconiinued annually. > •■> J J J itc nccoraa ana ome?' 



Jlis Excellency Be 



EXECUTIVE. 



bWooJ, Lioutenaot G«i 



Carter Braxton, 
llobert Qoodo, 
John n. BriggB, 
Charles Cnrter, 
John DawHon, 
Hardin Burnley, (n) 



Er|., Clerk of Iho Council. 



LEGISLATIVE. 



COURT OF APPEALS. 



John Brown, Esq., Clerk. 



Hian COURT OF CHASCERT. 

Honorable Oeobgk Wythe, Chancellor. 

Willinm Hny, Esq., Master Commissioner. 
I'cter Tinsley, Esq., Clerk. 



GENERAL COURT. 

Honorablo IIe'v Taieitell, Joseph Prentis, "l 
St. Goorgo Tuoker, Richard P«J- 
kcr, Edmund Winston, Jomcs [ . , 
Henry, John Tyler, Cuthbott j '""' 
BuUtit, Joseph Jones, and Spon- 1 



John Brown, Esq., Clerk. 



PUBLIC OFFICES. 



John Pendleton, Esq., Auditor of Publio Accounts. 



Leightou Wood, Esq., Solicitor. 



King CbarlcR the L 

Queen Chnrlotte, 

P. 1». Stnnbipc Lord Choaterficld, 



River Fluvanna, 

Doctor Bonjnmin Franlilin, 

Frederick Lewis, [Prince of Walei,] 

Duke of Gloucester, 

Sir Willium Gooch, [Ooicr'r of Firi/mia,] 



Jnmti Cifi/, 

King Otorgt, 
Kins Wiltiam, 



Xw,moJ 
iforihiiniuion. 



r, [.-.. E.>,,1<*"<'.] 



Louisa, [f> 
Dukcdoi 



IB Mndi 



Hon. George Miison,' 
" " • •' bowa. 

jklenburg, 

Middie8cx,"[i'" */'''i3f<im/,] 
" - ngalift Bivor, 

ral Montgomery, 



Indian Ori 



e George and Brunairick, 



Albomnrli 
Bedford, 
Essex, K. & Queen and K. Wm 

Originally so called, 

Goochland, 
Princo Georgs, 



Originally so colled. 



Lunenburg, 

Frederic and Augusta, 

New Kent, 

Hampshire, 

Monongalia, 

Originally so called. 

Originally so called, 
Kentuckie, 
Worrafiqueak County, 



Diiki 




J.,m.. Clly, 1051 

Jiiehinond, 1779 



Northampton, and counties in Maryland. 
Orange, Augusta, Rockingham, Amberst, £c. 

Buckingham, Campbell, i 



Campbell, Botetourt, Franklin, ko. 



Albemarle, Fluvanna, Amherst, Cumberland, Prince Edward. 



City, Henrico, New Kent, Prince George 
ipbell, ituekinghara. Prince Edward. 
rico, Prince George, Dinwiddie, Amelia, Powhat 
Orange, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Fauquier, ka. 
bland, Powhatan, Buckingham) kv. 
ijja, Brunswicli, Princo George, Chesterfield, 



, Princo William. Loudoun, Frederick, Ac. 
, Mercer, Woodford aud Bourbon. 
'Ic, Louisa, Goochland. 
Bedford, Botetourt, Montgomery, Henry, Pittsylvi 



lenandoah, Berkley, Hal 
King k Queen, York and Middlesex. 



Frederick, Berkley and Hnrdy. 

CO, Guochlnnd, Louisa, King (Tilliam, \ 



Chesterfield, Goochland, 

~' Ivanio, Patrick, Montgomery, & 



Wythe, Greenbrier, Harris. 
Stafford, Westmoreland, Caroline 
Essex, King William, Caroline, i 
Caroline, King k Queen, Hanov( 



Mercer, Fayette and Bourbon. 
Kanhaway, Bourbon and Woodford. 
Gloucester and Middlesex. 
Halifax, Charlotto, Lunenburg, Brunswick. 
Nelson, Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln. 
Gloucester, Essex and Lancaster. 
Randolph, Harrison, Ohio, Pittsylvania and 
Wythe, Botetourt ond Honry. 
Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Southampton. 



Albemarle, Louisa, Culpe; 



and Amelia. 
Nottoway, Charlotte, 
d, Charles City. 



Monongalia, Hardy, Pendl 



Froderiok, Rockingham, Culpeper and Hardy. 
Nansemond, Sussex, " 



I, Culpeper, Orange, Loi, 



Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, Prince George. 



KingOoorgo, 4o. 
Surry, Dinwiddie. 



1 Nortbumboriand. 



Eliiabalh City, 



I[Gnrlco and Chcslerlleld. 



Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake 
Fluvanna and Rivunna rivers, 

I, Rockfish and Tye riv 



James and Stauntoi 
Patowmac River, 
Roanoak, James and Kanhawny ri 
Stoner's Pork, Licking and Red ri 



Ronnoak and James rivers, 
Rappahannock and Pamunkey rivi 
and Cbickahominy, 



Rappahannock River, 

Fluvanna and Rivanna, (a hranchof Jam 



York, Piankctank rivers and Chesapeake Bay, 

James River, 

Greenbrier and Kanhaway rivers, 

Meherrin rivers, 

Dan, Staunton and Banister rivers, 

Patowmac River, 

Pamunkey and Cbickahominy rivers, 

South Branch of Patowmac, 

Little Kanhaway, Monongalia and Ohio rivers, 

James and Cbickahominy rivers, 

Waters of Roanoak, 

James and Cbickahominy rivers, 

Ohio, Kentuckie and Salt rivers, 

James River, Pagan Creek and Black Water, 

Kanhaway River and its branches to Ohio, 

Rappahannock and Patowmac rivers, 

Mattapony River and the Dragon Swamp, 

Pamunky and Mattaponv rivers, 

Rappahannock River and Chesapeake Bay, 

Greene, Cumberland and Dick's rivers, 

Patowmac River, 

Branches of famunkey River, 

Nottoway and Meherrin rivers. 



North River, Mobjack and Chesapeake bays, 
Roanoak and Meherrin rivers, 
Kentuckie, Salt and Dick's rivers, 
Rappahannock and Piankctank rivers, 
Monongalia and Cheat rivers. 
New River, or Kanhawoy, 
Nansemond, James River and Black Water, 
Ohio, Greene and Salt rivers, 



in. North and Northwest r 



Rappahannock Riv 



.hanock and Pamanky r 



James and Worv 



Philip IVndleton, 
George Skillron, 
John Edwards, 
John Jones, 
Charles Paterson, 
William Henderson, 
Anthony Thornton, 



J. Blackwell, Jr., 
' 'i Todd, 

:gc Thompson, 



Douglass Wilkins, 
John Coleman, 
Andrew Woodrow, 



John P. Du-Vol, 
Turner Southnll, 
George Qnirston, 



Not yet appointed. 



3d Monday. 
4th Monday. 
2d Tuesday. 
1st Thursday, 
1st Monday, 
lat Tuesday, 
lat Monday. 
Hd Monday. 
Last Tuesday. 
4th 1 bureday. 
■1th Monday. 



Last Alonday. 
2d Monday. 

Tuesday. 

iMond ay. 



Accomack, 

Charlottesville, 

Petersburg, 



Bot'tALoivi'oalt.' 



Princo Edward, 
Now London, 
F' odorioksburg, 



District Cornt Days 



15(A Ajiiilawl Septtii 
Ibth April and S<^l-im 
16fA April antt Stptfti 



J. Cropper, Thomna Custis, 
F. Walker, W. Clarke, 
Joshua Chaffin, John Royal 
Hugh Rose, S. J. Cabell, 
Zach. Johnson, W. Bowyer, 
Nut yet reproaoiited, 



N. Cnholl, 
J. Pride, 
I N. Cnhell, 
I. Multhuws, 

j R. Clnrko. 
I R. Rutherford 

I. William Kussoll 

Geu, William KumoU 

T. Claiborne, 



White 


Ail 


Inu'ts. 


""'«'■ 


sore 

0S27 


t21 


S2S0 


J2I 


•J2«0 


5» 


Iiiolu. 


111 


KIMO 


131 




■u 


a»!ll 




SDig 


132 
1|5 



a. Dookor. W. Wtfstwooil, 



Lundoli, 
Winoliestcr, 
losburg, 



2,>M 
■iUTi 
12tll 
OOS 
7T« 



0S9 «t> 19 1194 



8 Hi 


m 


Till 


iss 


11 IM 


g] 


■\ IIM 






25 


s?;is 


31 


II !JJ 


210 


1 \n 


2)7 




20 




212 




220 






3111 




am 


'til 


■nli 


SIO 




101 




MO 
t 





Brunswiok, 


■| 1 "■■- 


Hnrrodsburg, 




HarrodBburg, 




Williamsburg, 






Tuesday. 


narrodsburg, 




King k Qncei 




Morgiinlown, 


1 .. ..-H-, 


Wasbington, 








Hnrrodsburg, 



John H. Cocke, 
David Mason, 
Arthur Caoipboll, 



Ed'd Thoreughgo 
Flenry Leo, 
Robert Johnson, 
Walter Crockett, 
Thomas NolBon, Jr 



|2fA J/<iy'iN.( Oflabtr, 



1th Tuesday. 

12115 I-.-su I Lftj; Thursday. 

lOili 170(1 2,1 Thursday. 



Mo'yafradTh'y. 



Northumberland, I*' ^U"" 



a,l Mai/, 20lh SrpKmbn 



Nflrlhuioberiand, 



Ul April ..mlS^I'ltmber. 
]«r April and S'pumhtr. 
U Moi, ami OcloUr. 
Ifilh April ami Sn'tfAxr. 
12M J/..V'""'"''"6«"'. 



(I April awl Sipltmltr. 

•t Jf'm'y, JfarA, Junt. Stp'r, Xov 

!(/ JAiyont/ Oelubn'. 

SfA April 'iml StpUmbtr. 



I2th Jfau ana Uetobtr. 
Ut April and Stptmbtr. 
21IM April and Stplttnlfr. 



J. Koiirncfl, 
Goiionil ItuMoII, 
It. Bnisctt, 



Pope. 

P. I)u-V»ll. 



I Gonornl Ituiioll, 
e. Mntlliowa, 
T. ntdloy. 
K Htovoni. 

r."fl."wlp'lli, ' 
\ HIdloy. 
lonoral RumdII, 
lugh Nolion, 
.. (Jomplioll, 







«" 






IS\ ut 






urio 

3 8B0 
■IMT 


IBB 
14 

81) 






3aoi) 








Inolu, 
(I'Ufi 


41(1 


u 




6 7-16 


7 






.1 11(13 


n 






Vim 









4 ni;t 


.(80 






as 




3.S..I 


J -IS 





am 311 i&ii 



%m\ 83 3 0SJ 



Tlionin* Malliowi, Spoakei 



IkoW [ (ft) \^o}^\ 



idrin. Petersburg, Winoheslor, FrodorloVsburg and York, are Incorporated, but not yet rcprcientod ; the 



chye. 



r Tbot 



imw arc. Tb« great ohartor of laws and ordois on whlcb our Govommont ac'otnsto hnvo boon first 'permanently established, bcors date at London ISi 
and wiTo »\»\\i lu tho owatlon of Shonandoab and Montgomery in 1776 and 177? The Kentuckie counties Lincoln and Nelson, have a settlement on Green 
In ComiuouweaUb thcro was a county callod Yohogania, created in Oolobor 1770, but on' a,o extension of Ibo Pennsylvania lino this became thereby onnihibitcd. 

NoTi: [n.] Hardin BurnUy waa eloetod thli liut scmIou in Uio room of Thomas Madison, who resigned his scot in council. | Note [6.] The City of WiUinmsburg i 

DtKTiUct or ViHnisi.\, to wit :— Bo it remembered, that on the second day of Angnsl, iu tbo sixteenth year of the Independence of tho United States of Atner 



• t acquainted, nnd tbo length i 

jeonlinKly, nnd I 
las Hothorsall in I 
added to thoobovt 



iscmoud I 
Mil in the Land C 



iDtj wu ciiablisbed 
y, 1621, hoing the 11 
il,l33 white*, 114 mixed pervom 



extreme dixlonco ; the mllltla relunx are tu abort of Iho real t 
Denbeigh. tho only romolnlng Iraco iccnu to bo a crant of land to 
bed in J0.10, and ii now Vork Countr; TPtr and lower Norfulk 



2,130 ilsTOS. The d 



do for Ibo yenra i 
Iho Oiler Dainiii { 
In I0», and wero 
>« crealo.1 out of I 
iy from ifa« Ctpllol U compiiUd (« (ho Court 



'v.^'lrflJ/BeoklNo'. 



I Land i)$tt 
tualod wbir* 
ierlo^ (idJI 
iifo. On lb« 



"'5*h'."'ii^"" 






in JuQcs Cily and Tort, but if auporatcd ct 

** TiTHAx of ILe Bftid dislriot h.Ui depotited In Uiis olBc. tie 

I tko district and county conrts; tho ciTii list of tho CouunonireolUi, Ac., 



whit.., 40 mixed pcnon., o^fi ^I.vcf. 

or.ch.rt. Iho ii.H.i.mf ho clolm. u .illhoror prepriclor, In Iho »«nli follo.tof. lo «11: * TOPOailAPniOAL AXAU'SIS of ll. OOMMOXWKAITII f VlmmU, ff';' t' Hl'il- 
"'■'. ^ "l^ °"„ui from pobllo noocdj Ind oll.r .nthoriUM, to b. contlon.d .ntoJI?. In oonrotmllj to Ih. kI of th. Conjr.u of ll« United But.., o„iIllld " """ 



, II. H. V.^ 



Wd.MAAf M,\I(S)T.\I,I., '■■/'/•/• of lliij DlHhirl „/ Vhyi'"'"- 



KicUMOXD : J'niiltd l,y THOMAS XICUOLSOX, mlus!tt Printer JM llic axiA.,r al ihul flact — lU-fuUMtd hji ./. H' l!A.\hOLI'll, llirhmoml, 111., \»f>S. 



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